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PROCEEDINGS 

AT THE 

OF THE INCORPORATION 

OF THE 

TOWN OF DEDHAM. 




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Don G lea son Hill, 



PROCEEDI NGS 

AT THE 

CELEBRATION 

OF THE 

OF THE INCORPORATION 

OF THE 

TOWN OF DEDHAM, 

MASSACHUSETTS, 

September 21, 1886. 



CAMBRIDGE: 
JOHN WILSON AND SON. 

1887. 



CONTENTS. 



PAGE 

Extract from Records of the Colony of the Massa- 
chusetts Bay in New England ix 



^rcliminarg ^itticin of t\}t ^Toron:. 

Town-Meeting, April 6, 1885, and Appointment of Com- 
mittee 9 

Action of the Dedham Historical Society: 

Preliminary Meeting, June 3, 1885 9 

Adjourned Meeting, Sept. 2, 18S5 10 

Public Meeting, Sept. 14, 1885 10 

Annual Town-Meeting, March i, 1886, and Report of 

Committee 10 

Meeting of Committee of Arrangements appointed by 

the Town 15 

List of Sub-Committees 16 

Invited Guests x8 

5ri)c (Celebration.' 

Morning Concerts 22 

The Procession 23 



vi CONTENTS. 

Pack 
SERVICES IN THE CHURCH. 

Original Ode and Verses. By Frederic J. Stimson . 32 

Prayer, by Rev. Joseph B. Seabury 34 

Address of the Presiding Officer, Hon. Thomas L. 

Wakefield 3^ 

Original Hymn, by Rev. Seth C Beach 39 

Historical Address, by Erastus Worthington .... 40 

Forty-Fourth Psalm 104 

Benediction, by Rev. Seth C. Beach 104 

THE DINNER. 

Address of the President of the Day 107 

Invocation, by Rev. George W. Cooke io8 

Address of Hon. Frederick D. Ely 108 

„ Governor Robinson 112 

„ Hon. Hugh O'Brien, Mayor of Boston . . 121 

„ Dr. George E. Ellis 123 

„ Dr. William Everett 128 

„ Dr. Dwight 131 

„ Erastus Worthington, Esq 132 

„ Colonel Ellis 13S 

„ WiNSLow Warren, Esq 139 

„ Rev. Robert J. Johnson 141 

„ Alonzo B. Wentworth, Esq 149 

Closing Exercises at the Tent 151 

Evening Concerts, Fireworks, etc 151 

Final Meeting of Committee of Arrangements . . . 152 



CONTENTS. vii 

Page 

The Historical Collection 153 

Report of Committee on Historic Tablets and Monu- 
ments 155 

The Burial-place 157 

The Training-field 163 

The First Dam and Mill 165 

The Pillar of Liberty 170 

The Powder House 177 

Historic Houses and Places 185 

The Avery Oak 185 

The Fairbanks House 185 

Houses of the Ministers of the Dedham Churches . . . 186 

The Dexter House 187 

House of Dr. Nathaniel Ames 188 

House of Fisher Ames 189 

The Haven House 190 

The Dowse House 191 

The Shuttleworth House 193 

The Woodward Tavern 193 

Site of other Historic Places 194 

Final Action of the Town 196 

APPENDIX. 

I. Ode and Verses. Music by Arthur W. Thayer . 199 

n. Anniversary Poem, by Charles A. Mackintosh . 205 

ni-IX- Notes 208-214 



EXTRACT FROM THE RECORDS OF THE COLONY OF THE 
MASSACHUSETTS BAY IN NEW ENGLAND, 



At the Generall Court hoiilden at Boston, September 
8'-\ @ 1636. 

Ordered, that the plantation to bee setled above the 
falls of Charles Ryver, shall have three yeares iiiiunity fro 
publike charges, as Concord had, to bee accounted from 
the first of May next, & the name of the said plantation is 
to bee Deddam to enioy all that land on the southerly & 
easterly side of Charles Ryver not formerly graunted to 
any towne, or pticuler psons, & also to have five miles 
square on the other side of the ryver./ 

Shurtleff, Vol. I. pp. 179, 180. 



PRELIMINARY ACTION OF THE TOWN. 



A T a Town Meeting held April 6, 1885, the sub- 

ject of celebrating the Two Hundred and 

Fiftieth Anniversary of the Incorporation of the 

Town of Dedham was referred to a Committee 

consisting of 

Waldo Colburn. Benjaimin Weatherbee. 

Erastus Worthington. Daniel A. Lynch, 

Henry O. Hildreth. Alonzo B. Wentvvorth. 

Don Gleason Hill. John W. Chase. 

Henry Smith. John Crowley. 

Erastus E. Gay. Stephen M. Weld. 

Calvin S. Locke. Julius H. Tuttle. 
Chauncey C. Churchill. 

Pending the action of this committee, a meeting 
of the Dedham Historical Society was held June 3, 
1885, at which it was unanimously voted that the 
Society celebrate the two hundred and fiftieth anni- 
versary of the settlement of Dedham ; and Messrs. 
Erastus Worthington, Carlos Slafter, and Don 
Gi.EASON Hill were appointed a committee to con- 



lO THE TOWN OF DEDHAM. 

sider the subject, and report at an adjourned meeting, 
June 17. At this meeting the following gentlemen 
were appointed a Committee of Arrangements : — 

Alfred Hewins. Cornelius A. Taft. 

John H. Burdakin. Joseph Guild. 

Julius H. Tuttle. Arthur M. Backus. 

At an adjourned meeting held September 2, it 
was voted, in accordance with the recommendation 
of the Committee of Arrangements, that a public 
meeting of the Society should be held at the Uni- 
tarian Vestry on Monday evening, September 14, 
and the Committee were instructed to give a general 
invitation to all residents of Dedham, and to others 
interested in the history of Dedham, to attend. 

In accordance with this vote the meetinsr was 
held Monday evening, Sept. 14, 1885, at the Uni- 
tarian Vestry, which was filled with a large and 
attentive audience. The meeting was called to order 
by Henry O. Hildreth, President of the Society ; 
and interesting papers were read by Erastus 
WoRTHiNGTON upou " Indian Titles and the In- 
dian Village of Natick;" by Carlos Slafter upon 
" The Ancient Burying Place of Dedham ;" by Rev. 
Calvin S. Locke upon " Incidents in the History 
of West Dedham;" and by Henry O. Hildreth 
upon " Some of the Old Dedham Houses." 

At the Annual Town Meeting, March i, 1886, 
the Committee appointed April 6, 1885, submitted 



25OTII ANNIVERSARY. II 

the following report through their chairman, Eras- 
Tus Worthington, Esq.: — 

The Committee appointed at the last April Town Meet- 
ing, to whom was referred the article in the warrant for 
said meeting respecting the celebration of the two hundred 
and fiftieth anniversary of the incorporation of the town, 
with power to procure any necessary authority from the 
General Court respecting the same, do now respectfully 
report as follows : — 

Having assumed it to be the will of the people of Ded- 
ham that there should be some appropriate observance of 
the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the incorpo- 
ration of the town, the only questions remaining to be 
considered relate to the manner of such observance. For- 
tunately we find a good precedent to guide us in the second 
centennial celebration of 1836. The most substantial de- 
parture from the observances of that occasion which we 
would recommend is the expenditure of a moderate sum 
in restoring and preserving a few historical monuments, 
now in danger of decay, — such as the Powder House, 
erected by a vote of the town in 1766, which needs re- 
pairs, and the stone erected by citizens in the same year 
to commemorate the repeal of the Stamp Act, which should 
be replaced and suitably protected, — and marking them by 
tablets giving their history, and also placing similar historic 
tablets upon the Avery Oak, the old cemetery, and the 
training-field, and perhaps a few other historic spots. We 
shall thus leave permanent marks of our interest in their 
preservation for the example of future generations. 

The expense of a centennial celebration in many of the 
towns has been met by an appropriation from the town 
treasury. It was so done in this town, either wdiolly or 
in part, in 1836, although not then authorized by law. 



12 THE TOWN OF DEDHAM. 

Such celebrations have been generally regarded as events 
of a deeper and wider significance than mere holiday 
entertainments. They interest all the citizens of the town, 
and so the practice has been nearly uniform to provide for 
them at the common expense. For several years such 
appropriations have been authorized by general laws, now 
incorporated with the Public Statutes. But in order to avoid 
the possible question that a centennial anniversary is not a 
two hundred and fiftieth anniversary, and also to obtain 
the needful authority to raise money for historic tablets 
and monuments, in pursuance of the authority given us, 
we applied to the General Court, and a special law has 
been passed giving to the town full power to raise money 
for these purposes. 

The provisions of the act are very similar to those of an 
act passed in 1885 relating to the two hundred and fiftieth 
anniversary of the town of Concord. It authorizes the 
town of Dedham to raise by taxation a sum of money not 
exceeding one tenth of one per cent of its assessed valua- 
tion in 1885, — being the same limit fixed in the Public 
Statutes, for the purpose of celebrating the two hundred 
and fiftieth anniversary of the incorporation of the town 
of Dedham, and of erecting tablets or monuments to mark 
places and objects of historic interest, and of restoring and 
preserving any such existing monuments in said town. 
The maximum limit fixed by this act is very much larger 
than we shall need to raise, and of course it may be any 
sum below that limit. 

Following the plan of a similar committee in 1836, we 
have agreed upon a general plan of the celebration, which 
we recommend for adoption by the town. 

We recommend that Tuesday, the 21st day of Septem- 
ber, be observed as the Two Hundred and Fiftieth Anni- 
versary of the incorporation of the town, — Sept. 21, 1836, 



25OTH ANNIVERSARY. 1 3 

having been celebrated as the two hundredth anniversary, — 
it being a convenient day therefor. 

We further recommend that the exercises of the day 
be substantially as follows : — 

1. That the bells of the town be rung and a salute of fifty guns 
fired at sunrise. 

2. That there be a concert in the morning by the children of 
the public schools on the green of the First Parish Church. 

3. That there be a procession with an escort, which shall move 
with the invited guests to one of the churches in Dedham village, 
where there shall be appropriate exercises, including an historical 
address and vocal music. 

4. That the citizens be invited to decorate their houses. 

5. That at the conclusion of the exercises the procession be 
re-formed and march to Memorial Hall, where a dinner shall be 
provided for the invited guests and holders of tickets. 

6. That his Excellency the Governor, the member of Congress 
from this district, members of the General Court from Norfolk 
County, the judge of the Probate Court and other county officers, 
the selectmen of the respective towns that once formed a part of 
Dedham, the presidents of the Massachusetts Historical Society 
and New England Historic Genealogical Society, and of other 
historical societies in Norfolk County, and such other persons as 
the Committee of Arrangements may decide to be entitled to such 
invitation, be invited to attend the exercises in the church, and also 
the dinner, as guests of the town. 

7. That the bells be rung and a salute fired at sunset. 

We also recommend that a committee of arrangements, 
to consist of seven members, be chosen at this meeting, 
with full power to carry out such arrangements, and also 
any further arrangements that may be found necessary by 
them, including the selection of an orator, president of the 
day, and chief marshal, and the appointment of any special 



14 THE TOWN OF DEDHAM. 

committees they may deem expedient, and the fiUing of 
any vacancies occurring in their own number. 

We further recommend that a committee to consist of 
three members be appointed at this meeting to erect 
tablets or monuments to mark places of historic interest, 
and to do what may be necessary to restore and preserve 
existing monuments. 

We recommend that the sum of fifteen hundred dol- 
lars be raised and appropriated to carry into effect all the 
foregoing recommendations, from which a sum not ex- 
ceeding five hundred dollars may be expended for tablets 
and monuments. 

We would respectfully recommend that the following 
named gentlemen serve as the Committee of Arrange- 
ments : — 

WiNSLOw Warren. John R. Bullard. 

Henry Smith. George Fred. Williams. 

Erastus E. Gay. John Crowley. 

Charles A. Mackintosh. 

We also recommend that the following named gentle- 
men serve as the Committee on Tablets and Monu- 
ments : — 

Erastus Worthington. Henry O. Hildreth. 

Don Gleason Hill. 

Respectfully submitted. 
Dedham, March i, 1886. 



It was voted that this report be accepted and 
its recommendations adopted, and that the sum of 



25OTH ANNIVERSARY. 1 5 

fifteen hundred dollars be raised and appropriated 
for the purposes set forth in said report. 

At an adjourned Town Meeting held April 19, 
1886, the Committee of Arrangements having asked 
for an additional appropriation of one thousand 
dollars, the town voted the sum asked for, coupled 
with the condition that no part of said sum, or of 
any sum heretofore appropriated by the town for 
the celebration, should be expended for alcoholic 
liquors, or for wines, ale, or beer. 

The Committee of Arrangements appointed by 
the Town for the celebration, Sept. 21, 1886, — 
Messrs. Winslow Warren, Henry Smith, Erastus 
E. Gay, John R. Bullard, George Fred. Williams, 
John Crowley, and Charles A. Mackintosh, — met 
March 8, 1886, at the Town Clerk's office, and 
organized by the choice of 

Winslow Warren Chairman, 

Charles A. Mackintosh Secretary. 

John R. Bullard Treasurer. 

At a subsequent meeting, Mr. Mackintosh hav- 
ing, on account of necessary absence from the town, 
resigned as a member of the Committee, Julius H. 
TuTTLE was chosen in his place as a member of the 
Committee and as Secretary. 

The Committee invited Erastus Worthington 
to deliver the oration, Thomas L. Wakefield to 
preside at the exercises in the church, Frederick 
D. Ely to preside at the dinner, Gen. Stephen M. 



l6 THE TOWN OF DEDHAM. 

Weld to act as chief-marshal, Rev. Seth C. Beach 
to write a hymn for the occasion, Arthur W. 
Thayer to conduct the musical exercises, and 
Charles J. Capen to act as organist. These gen- 
tlemen having accepted, other committees were 
chosen as follows : — 

Etrcptton Cnmrnittee, 

Lusher G. Baker, Jr., chairman. Charles M. Boyd. 

John L. Wakefield. Albert F. Fisher. 

Harry B. Alden. Lewis D. Smith. 

Edward Capen. Harry E. French. 



©eflErs for tiie Cjccrciscs at tl&e Cfiurcb, 2)tnner, anU ©tcninff 
Entertainment at Jlemortal |)aU. 

Lusher G. Baker, Jr., chairman. Lewis D. Smith. 

John L. Wakefield. Harry E. French. 

Edward Capen. Fred. E. Smith. 

Harry B. Alden. Moses E. Baker. 

Charles E. Conant. Alfred B. Page. 

John W. Boyd. Gardner Perry. 

Charles M. Boyd. Benjamin Fisher. 

Albert F. Fisher. Theodore T. Marsh. 

Frank M. Wakefield. Bernard T. Schermerhorn. 

Fred. W. Rice. 



dinner Committee, 

Charles W. Wolcott, chairman. Harry B. Alden. 

Charles E. Conant. Edward Capen. 

Edward T. Baker. John L. Wakefield. 

Fred. A. Cormerais. Lewis D. Smith. 

Albert F. Fisher. Fred. E. Smith. 



25OTH ANNIVERSARY. 



17 



Committee on 2Dccorattan6. 



John H. BuRDAKIN, chairman. 
Henry Hitchings. 
Cornelius A. Taft. 
Edward Capen. 



Frank M. Bailey. 
Philander S. Young. 
J. Varnum Abbott. 
Carl L. T. Markward. 



Committee on JFiretoorfes. 
George R. Johnstone. 

Committee on ^eU=rinsing. 
Erastus E. Gay. George W. Phillips. 



Committee on historic Collection. 



Henry O. HiLDRETH, Ckairmaft. 

Henry G. Guild, Secretary. 

Edward Capen, Treasurer. 

Mrs. George F. Fisher. 
Miss Sadie B. Baker. 
Miss Helen A. Browne. 
Miss Anna F. Colburn. 
Miss Ellen H. Crehore. 
Miss Susan D. Ellis. 
Miss Annie R. Fisher. 
George F. Fisher. 
Mrs. Joseph Fisher, 
Erastus E. Gay. 



Miss Abby E. Guild. 
Mrs. Alfred Hewins. 
Henry Hitchings. 
George W, Humphrey. 
Elmer P. Morse. 
Thomas Murphy. 
Miss Delm. W. Southgate. 
Mrs. Cornelius A. Taft. 
Miss Mary L. Talbot. 
Mrs. Julius H. Tuitle. 
John L. Wakefield. 
Mrs. George E. Whiting. 
Miss C. M. Worthington. 



The following gentlemen were invited to the 
celebration : — 



i8 



THE TOWN OF DEDHAM. 



His Excellency Gov. George D. 

Robinson and Staff. 
Lieut. -Gov. Ames. 
Hon. Henry B. Pierce. 
Hon. A, W. Beard. 
Hon. E. J. Sherman. 
Hon. Charles R. Ladd. 
Hon. Marcus Morton. 
Hon. Lincoln F. Brigham. 
Hon. George F. Hoar. 
Hon. Henry L. Dawes. 
Hon. Horace Gray. 
Hon. L. B. Colt. 
Hon. Robert C. Winthrop. 
Hon. John D. Long. 
Hon. Leverett Saltonstall. 
Hon. George M. Stearns. 

Hon. A. E. PiLLSBURY. 

Hon. John E. Fitzgerald. 
Hon. J. Q. A. Brackett. 
Hon. Hugh O'Brien. 
Hon. George White. 
Hon. William Gaston. 
Dr. William Everett. 
President Charles W. Eliot. 
President Timothy Dwight. 
Hon. Warren E. Locke. 
Hon. John H. Gould. 
Rev. Dr. George E. Ellis. 
Hon. Marshall P. Wilder. 
Hon. Thomas Russell. 
Hon. Henry Cabot Lodge. 
Hon. Robert R. Bishop. 
Hon. S. C. Cobb. 
John Quincy Adams, Esq.. 
Everett C. Bumpus, Esq. 
Henry A. Whitney, Esq. 
Albert A. Folsom, Esq. 
Hon. F. W. Bird. 



Hon. M. M. Fisher. 
Fisher Ames, Esq. 
Hon. Horace Fairb.'U^ks. 
Hon. George H. Monroe. 
Fisher A. Baker, Esq. 
Hon. John J. Clarke. 
Hon. George Sheldon. 
Samuel B. Noyes, Esq. 
Rev. Edward G. Porter. 
Thomas Dunbar, Esq. 
Charles H. Walcott, Esq. 
B. B. Torrey, Esq. 
Joseph W. Clark, Esq. 
Albert W. Nickerson, Esq. 
John J. Loud, Esq. 
W. C. BuRRAGE, Esq. 
Henry W. Dwight, Esq. 
The County Commissioners and 
other Officials of Norfolk 
County. 
The Town Officers of Dedham. 
The President of the Dedham 

Historical Society. 
The President of the Dedham 

Public Library. 
The Chairman of the Select- 
men OF . . . Medfield. 

Wrentham. 

Needham. 

Bellingham. 

Walpole. 

Canton. 

Franklin. 

Dover. 

Hyde Park. 

Norwood. 

Norfolk. 

Wellesley. 



25OTH ANNIVERSARY. ig 

And also Ira Cleveland, Esq., surviving member 
of the Committee of Arrangements, and the follow- 
ing gentlemen, surviving marshals of the procession 
at the Two Hundredth Anniversary: — 

Ira Russell. John D. Colburn. 

Benjamin Boyden. Theodore Metcalf. 



C{)e Committee on Cablets, 

Erastus Worthington. Henry O. Hildreth. 

Don Gleason Hill. 



This Committee removed the Pitts Head monu- 
ment to the Church Green, renewed its inscriptions, 
and placed upon it a bronze tablet ; repaired the Old 
Powder House ; appropriately designated by stone 
monuments the Old Training Field, the Old Burial 
Place, and the First Dam built in the town ; and 
upon the day of the celebration designated by con* 
spicuous inscriptions the sites of the old houses and 
other points of interest. A full report of the work 
of the Committee will be found in another part of 
this volume. 



THE CELEBRATION. 



•^ I "UESDAY, Sept. 21, 1886, was one of the most 
beautiful of our autumnal days. Through 
the efificiency of the Committee on Decorations, 
aided by the enthusiasm of the citizens generally, 
the town was elaborately decorated, and presented 
a most attractive holiday appearance. The Uni- 
tarian Church, where the address was delivered, — 
the same building in which the exercises at the 
bi-centennial celebration in 1836 had been held, — 
was tastefully decorated with flowers and evergreen ; 
the vestry, near by, was filled with a most interest- 
ing collection of historical relics ; a large tent had 
been erected for the dinner upon the Richards Field 
on High Street ; band-stands had been placed at 
prominent points ; and the public buildings and 
residences were gay with flags and bunting. At 
sunrise a national salute was fired from the hill 
opposite the Dye House at East Dedham, and 
the bells of the various churches were rung. At 
an early hour crowds of people poured into the 



2 2 THE TOWN OF DEDHAM. 

town, and at least fifteen thousand persons witnessed 
the celebration. 

From 7.30 A. M. to 8 a. m. a concert was given by 
the Norwood Band at Boyden & Bailey's Square at 
East Dedham ; from 8 to 9 a concert was given on 
the Church Green by the Cadet Band of Boston ; 
and the children of the pubhc schools, gathered in 
front of the church, sang national airs under the 
direction of Mr. Arthur W. Thayer. This was one 
of the most attractive and interesting features of 
the celebration. 

At 10 o'clock an express train arrived from Bos- 
ton, bringing the Independent Corps of Cadets 
escorting the Governor and staff and invited guests, 
who were at once assigned carriages, and a long 
procession, which had been promptly formed under 
the marshalship of Gen. Stephen M. Weld, moved 
over the designated route, a governor's salute being 
fired from the hill as the procession started. 

The procession was formed in the following 
order : The first division on Church Street, with 
the right resting on High; the second division on 
Washington and Bryant streets, with right at 
School ; the third division on Washington Street, 
with right at Bryant ; the fourth division on School 
Street, with right on Washington Street ; the fifth 
division on Washington, north side of High Street, 
with right resting on High. Each division was 
ordered to be in line at 9.30 a. m., at which time 
they were inspected by the chief marshal. The 



25OTH ANNIVERSARY. 23 

route was as follows, starting at Memorial Hall : 
High to Eastern Avenue, Eastern Avenue to East, 
East to Walnnt, Walnut to High, High to Wash- 
ington, Washington to School, School to Court, 
Court to Village Avenue, Village Avenue to High, 
High to Court. The parade was dismissed at 
Memorial Hall Square. 



THE PROCESSION. 

The formation of the procession was as follows 

Platoon of Police, mounted. 

Chief Marshal. 
Gen. STEPHEN M. WELD. 

Color Yellow. 



EXECUTIVE STAFF. 

Chief of Staff Amasa Guild. 

Adjutant-General .... Joseph H. Lathrop. 

Quartermaster E. Scott Morse. 

Surgeon Dr. John W. Chase. 

Chaplain Rev. E. A. Howard. 

Bugler Theodore Colburn 

Special Aids. 

Col. James M. Ellis. Charles E. Conant. 

Fred. J. Baker. Henry P. Ouincy. 

Horatio G. Turner. Owen J. Reynolds. 

John B. Fisher. George W. Weatherbee. 



24 THE TOWN OF DEDHAM. 

General Staff. 

Franklin Copeland. James Y. Noyes. 

Daniel A. Lynch. Herbert French. 

Philander S. Young. Frank E. Morse. 

William H. Lord. Charles H. Ellis. 

Joseph Colburn. Charles Warren. 

John L. Wakefield. Gardner Perry. 

Henry Fuller. John R. Bullard, Jr. 

William B. Gould. A. R. Weld. 

Joseph L. Fisher. F. F. Norris. 

Henry E. Weatherbee. E. M. Weld. 

Theron B. Ames. Edgar Murphy. 

Creighton Colburn. H. T. McClearn, Jr. 

Joseph H. Walley. Joseph C. Hoppin. 

Fred. E. Smith, Color-Beaj-er. 



FIRST DIVISION. 

Color Blue. 

Chief of Division , Gen. Thomas Sherwin. 

Staff. 
Col. Joseph Stedman. Edward Sherwin. 

David L. Hodges. Joseph Guild. 

Post 144, G. A. R., Dedham, Henry W. Weeks, Commander. 

Post 117, G. A. R., Medfield, John H. Pember, Commander. 

Norwood National Band. 

Post 121, G. A. R., Hyde Park, E. S. Churchill, Commander. 

Post 157, G. A. R., Walpole, J. C. Madigan, Commander. 

Post 169, G. A. R., Norwood, Albert G. Webb, Commander. 

Post 181, G. A. R., Needham, A. D. Kingsbury, Commander. 

Boston Cadet Band. 

First Corps of Cadets, Lt.-Col. Thomas F. Edmands commanding, 

escorting 

His Excellency, Governor George D. Robinson and Staff. 

Invited Guests and Town Officials, in carriages. 



25OTII ANNIVERSARY. 25 



SECOND DIVISION. 

Color Red. 

Waldo Weatherbee, Color-Bearer. 
Dedham Fire Department. 

George A. Guild, Chief Engineer. 
Ebenezer Gould, Francis Soule, Assistants. 

Norwood Band. 27 pieces. 

Steamer Relief and Hose Co. No. i, Dedliam, H. A. Phipps, Foreman. 
15 men ; with Steamer and Hose Carriage. 

Hero Hose Co. 2, with Carriage, J. Keehn, Foreman. 12 men. 

Niagara Hose Co. No. 3, East Dedham, with Carriage, 
James Finn, Foreman. 14 men. 



F. H. Walker and F. W. Turner, Assistant Engineers of Nor- 
wood Fire Department. 

Norwood Hook and Ladder Truck No. i, Edward Moore, Fore- 
man. 15 men. 

George A. Morse, Chief Engineer of Medfield Fire Department. 

Excelsior Hook and Ladder Truck, Medfield, E. Bullard, Foreman. 

20 men. 

Hyde Park Fife and Drum Corps. 20 men. 

H. G. Balkam, Chief Engineer of Hyde Park Fire Department. 
R. Williams, R. Corson, Assistants. 

Hose I, A. R. Williams, Foreman. 

Hose 2, M. Rogers, Foreman. 

Hook and Ladder Truck No. i, R. Scott, Jr., Foreman. 
(Three companies. 30 men in line.) 

Apparatus, Steamer 2, Truck i. Hose i. 



26 THE TOWN OF DEDHAM. 

Lion Engine No. 2, West Dedham, W. C. Fuller, Foreman. 
12 men. 

Norfolk Engine No. 6, West Dedham, J. Hannon, Jr., Foreman. 

12 men. 

Franklin Engine No. 8, West Dedham, George G. Bonney, 
Foreman. 20 men. 

Rescue Hook and Ladder No. i, Dedham Village, George Hogan, 
Foreman. 10 men. 

Supply Wagon. 



THIRD DIVISION. 

Color White. 

Baldwin's Cadet Band. 

Chief of Division, Henry E. Crocker. 

Staff. 
Guy C. Channell, J. H. Burdett. 

D. F. Howard. E. J. Cox. 

WiLLARD E. Jones. 

Arthur Whitman, Color-Bearer. 

School Children of Dedham. 

Boys of the several schools, 275 in number, marching in line, 4 abreast. 

Girls of the several schools in barges, 9 in number. 

Barge containing inmates of the Boys' Home, Dedham. 



FOURTH DIVISION. 

Color Purple. 

Drum and Fife. 

Chief of Division, F. F. Favor. 

Staff. 
B. F. White. J. B. Smith. 

E. A, Chase. C. A. Cotton. 

E. P. Cassell, Jr., Color-Bearer. 



25OTH ANNIVERSARY. 27 

Company of Continentals, 50 strong, under command of Captain 
Daniel R. Beckford, Lieuts. Smith and Partridge. 

Honorary Staff Officers of Conimenlals. 

J. H. Griggs, Adjutant ; S. G. Bent, Ensign, 73 years old, carrying 

the old Pine-Tree Standard ; Richard Mackintosh, Henry 

T. McClearn, Frank M. Bailey, Samuel J. J. 

Watson, F. J. Bingham, C. L. Cotton. 

First Float. — First Inhabitants. 1630. Wigwam surrounded by 
pine branches and shocks of Indian corn. Original inhabitants, 
savages, personated by Chauncey S. Churchill, as Big Chief; 
H. L. Wardle, C. F. Foss, E. E. Norris, F. E. Clapp, Henry 
S. Baker. 

Second Float. — The coming of the First Settlers from Water- 
town to Dedham in 1635, represented as coming by boat. The 
first settlers were correctly personated by Martin Hanson and 
his son John, two daughters. Misses Maria and Delia, and 
Misses Annie and Bertha Kiessling, Miss Annie McGee, and 
Herman Weber. 

Third Float. — A House in 1636. Log-cabin, covered with spoils 
of the early backwoods days in shape of fox, raccoon, skunk, and 
other skins. Characters : Settler, personated by Henry Cham- 
berlain •■, his wife, at spinning-wheel, Miss Dolly Wale. 

Fourth Float. — Capture of Indian Chief Pomham in Dedham 
Woods, July 25, 1676. Pomham personated by Daniel R. Beck- 
ford, Jr. ; Indians, by R. J. Fitzgerald, C. E. Luce, Joseph C. 
McManus, W. M. Matta ; Puritans, by Fred. E. Robinson, as 
Captain, Frank Green, George Cartwright, James Keltie, 
Victor Reeve. 

Fifth Float. — Capture of a Royal Governor by a Dedham man, 
April 19, 1689. Royal Governor, Sir Edmund Andros, person- 
ated by Charles H. J. Kimball ; his page, by R. W. Walker ; 
Daniel Fisher, who captured him, by H. K. White, Jr. ; and his 
men by A. H. and E. A. Watson, R. Cartwright, F. H. 
Wright, Daniel McDonald. 

Sixth Float. — Guarding Wife and Children to Church in 1690. 
Scene, winter; place, woodland. Characters: Settler, Irving 
Donley, armed with old flintlock ; his son, George Paul, also 
armed ; his wife, Miss Mary C. Ellis ; his daughter, little Miss 
Emma Donley. 



28 THE TOWN OF DEDHAM. 

Seventh Float. — Minute-man, 1775. Personated by Edward J. 
Keelan, who, with one hand on the plough and the other on his 
musket, presented a correct and striking picture of New England's 
hardy and courageous sons, ready at a moment's notice to hasten 
forth to do and die for American Liberty, — witness Concord, Lex- 
ington, Bunker Hill. The musket Mr. Keelan carried is a his- 
torical relic, an old flintlock of 1779. This tableau was awarded 
much applause along the line of march. 

Eighth Float. — Husking-party in 1826. A merry party busily at 
work husking the golden ears of corn. Personated by Andrew 
Wheeler, as grandfather; Jake, his son, William Parker; 
Mrs. M. A. Nichols, as grandmother; Misses Liney Wheeler, 
Millie Kreis, Gussie Graydon, Minnie Fitzgerald, and 
Masters Edward Willcutt, Herbert Crosby, Harry Cham- 
berlain, Eddie Welch, and little Willie Wheeler, as grand- 
children. 

Ninth Float. — Old Father Time and the Seasons. Characters : 
Old Father Time, Philip J. Wieland; Spring, Miss Lottie 
WiELAND ; Summer, Julius Delmuth ; Autumn, Karl Wag- 
ner ; Winter, Miss Minnie Zikendrath. 

Tenth. — Old Stage-coach. 

Eleventh. — Modern Tally-ho. The Boston and Providence Citi- 
zens' Stage-coach Company ; Timothy Gay, President ; Thomas 
P. Brown, Agent. Personated by members of the Boston Cham- 
ber' of Commerce. 

Twelfth. — J- E. Smith riding a fat Ox. Mr. Smith's oxmanship 
was much admired by the spectators along the route. 



FIFTH DIVISION. 

Color Green. 

Chief of Staff, John Wardle, Jr. 

Staff. 
B. F. CoPELAND. Charles W. Tucker. 

R. S. Clisby. Samuel C. French. 

Lawrence W. Feeney, Color-Bearer. 

This Division was composed of the Trade exhibits of the town, and 

was in line as follows : — 



25OTH ANNIVERSARY. 29 

West Dedham Grange, No. 133, four-horse team driven by John 
Rogers, containing old-fashioned farming implements as used by 
the hardy toilers of Dedham in 1636, and those now in use in 
18S6 ; over and among which were arranged grains in sheaves, and 
vegetables. 

B. F. COPELAND, a team loaded down with the products of plant, 
vine, and tree, with John Sullivan as driver. 

Merchants' Woollen Mills — Harding, Colby, & Co., owners ; Timo- 
thy O'Callaghan, Agent — made a very fine display in two teams. 
First team, four horses, Edgar Dean, driver, contained a loom, 
with August Danner, who has had an experience of thirty-three 
years at the loom, — a weaver at the mills in East Dedham since 
1853. On the front seat with its owner, Samuel Robinson, was 
a live sheep, and arranged about the team were the products made 
from the fleecy coat of that most useful animal, from the time it 
leaves its back until it becomes cloth. The second team, P. Howe, 
driver, contained cloth cased ready for the market. 

Nathaniel Morse, two teams : one loaded with the several kinds 
of fertilizers of which he is agent, John McGee, driver ; the 
other filled with bales of pressed hay and bags of grain, W. Nel- 
son, driver. 

Charles French, a four-horse team, load of wood decorated with 
American flags, R. J. Buchanan, driver. 

Amory Fisher, three teams, representing his business of coal, grain, 
and ice-dealer ; established in 1854. 

Franklin Square Market made an excellent showing of meats, vege- 
tables, and fruits. 

T. F. O'Neil made a handsome display of groceries, tastefully 
arranged. 

S. A. Tuttle made a display of his business as veterinary surgeon. 

W. C. Fuller, a team-load of house-moving implements. Team 
neatly decorated with flowers ; H. T. Place, driver. 

G. W. French, load of wood, decorated with National colors, with a 
horse and saw on top as a suggestive hint ; William Ellsworth, 
driver. 

Philander Allen exhibited a four-horse load of marble monuments 
and gravestones ; while in the rear of the team workman Thomas 
Donnelly showed how marble-cutting was done. 



30 THE TOWN OF DEDHAM. 

J. Lynas made a fine display of horse-blankets and harnesses. 

Carl P. E. Ziegler made an excellent showing, in a handsomely 
decorated team, of carriage mats and robes, harnesses, and up- 
holstery articles. 

William Baker exhibited his business of whip-manufacturer in a 
team uniquely arranged ; A. W. Finney, driver. 

G. A. French made an exhibit of his business as a grocer ; G. E. 
BoNNEY, driver. 

M. Keelan, hardware-dealer, made a good showing of stoves. 

F. C. Weeks exhibited a load of provisions. 

Marshall, the expressman, with horse and team decorated with 
magenta plumes, and Levi^is J. Houghton, the veteran, twenty-one 
years in the business, as driver, made a good showing of how 
business is done in modern times. 

Wallis Whiting, assisted by Thomas Proctor, Jr., and Master 
WiTHiNGTON, as Puritans, showed how cider was made in 1636. 

W. S. Macomber exhibited a wagon-load of furniture and carpets. 

J. E. Smith represented his business of provision-dealer. 

C. F. Macomber exhibited a neatly arranged load of carpenter's 
tools, paints, etc. 

Charles Winschman, in a prettily decorated team, showed how 
cigars were made. Frank Thiel assisted him. 

GODING Brothers made a good display of grain in bags in two 
teams. Each pyramid of bags was surmounted by a small ever- 
green tree. 

C. S. Churchill had two teams in line; one with a load of bricks 
in barrels, the other with coal. 

Moris Greenhood, in a neatly decorated team, advertised his busi- 
ness as a clothing-dealer. 

P. B. Gaffney ended the division with a team-load of live-stock, 
representing his business as a butcher and marketman. The team 
was separated into three pens, containing respectively a big hog, 
a calf, and a pair of lambs, of which J. F. Moran had charge. 



25OTH ANNIVERSARY. 3 1 

At precisely 1 2 o'clock the procession arrived on 
the Church Green, where the Governor and staff 
and invited guests reviewed it from the band-stand 
on the Green, the marshals being drawn up near 
the stand. At this hour the chimes were rung 
upon the Episcopal Church, and a national salute 
was fired. 

At 12.30, the review being over, the procession 
was dismissed, and the Governor and guests entered 
the church. 

At 11.30 the galleries of the church had been 
opened to ladies, and upon the arrival of the pro- 
cession and the entry of the Governor and guests to 
the church the building was crowded to its utmost 
capacity, and presented a most briUiant appearance. 
The pulpit had been elaborately decorated with 
plants, flowers, and evergreen, and upon a platform 
in front sat the Governor and staff ; the Orator of 
the Day, Erastus Worthington ; the President, 
Thomas L. Wakefield; President Timothy D wight, 
of Yale College, Hon. John D. Long, Dr. George 
E. Ellis, and other invited guests. 



SERVICES IN THE CHURCH. 



I. 

ORGAN VOLUNTARY. 
By Charles J. Capen. 



II. 

ORIGINAL ODE AND VERSES. 

By Frederic J. Stimson. 
Music composed by Arthur W. Thayer.^ 

Athwart the way our fathers laid 

The summer sunhght falls ; 
The elms our fathers set still shade 
The road, 'twixt church and pasture made ; 
The stones their ploughshares first uplaid 

Still lie in mossy walls. 

Down from the western hills our own 

Still, roaming river runs, 
Content in Dedham's arms alone 
To lie, and mirror spire and stone ; 
The robin to our fathers known, 

Still sings for us, their sons. 

^ For the music, see pages 199-204. 



25OTII ANNIVERSARY. 33 

Strophe. 

For the fulness of earth, 

For the light of the sky, 

For their death, for our birth, 

For the heritage high 
Born of the word of light, 
Won by the deed of might, 
Saved by the sowing of sight ; 
For the light in the eyes and the love in the hearts of men that brings 
Men to be brave in war and true in the love of all things ; 
Glory of deed that is past. 
Safety of State that is fast, 
Hope that is now and shall last ; 

For the flower and the fruit, 

For the eye and the word. 

For the tree and its root. 

For the sleep of the sword, — 
We praise thee, our Lord. 

The harvest falls from broader fields. 

The waning woods are few ; 
Food for the world their homestead yields. 
All earth's oppressed their shelter shields, 
A nation's nerved arm now wields 

The truth that first they knew. 

Be not alone a harvest won 

Of gold, from labored hours ; 
Undo not what their hands have done. 
Nor bind with wealth they sought to shun ; 
Still ring the bells at set of sun, — 

Our fathers' God, and ours. 

Antistrophe. 

From sins of the few, 
From crimes of the many, 
From prophets untrue, 
From rule of the penny ; 



34 THE TOWN OF DEDHAM. 

Crime, that ignorance frees ; 
Lust, that is born of ease ; 
Hate, that is born of these ; 
From the curse of false lights, and worship of earth, and then 
Doubt, and forgetting of God, and death of the soul in men ; 
Wealth, that is easy won, 
Freedom, too soon undone, 
Malice, that masks the sun ; 
From conflict of class, 
From rage falsely stirred, 
From greed of who has. 
From death of thy word, — 
Deliver us, Lord. 



III. 

PRAYER. 

By Rev. Joseph B. Seabury. 

/^ LORD God of Hosts, Ruler of nations and 
^^^ of men, we adore Thee as our father's God. 
Obedient to Thy voice, we " remember the days 
of old." With devout gratitude for Thy present 
favor, " we ask for the old paths." 

We bless Thee for our honored heritage, for the 
simple virtues, the ripe wisdom, the kindly graces, 
the spiritual fortitude that distinguished our fathers. 
We would not be unmindful of the trials through 
which they passed, loyal to an unerring conscience. 
Grant that we may have power to discern the deep 
principles for which they suffered banishment from 
native land, that they might rear on a free soil the 
enduring monument of justice to personal convic- 



25OTPI ANNIVERSARY. 35 

tion, liberty to fellow-men, and " the honor that is 
due unto Thy name." 

We remember with self-distrust their fealty to 
the cause of education, that the school and the 
church were made to grow together, the pledge 
and promise of an intelligent Christian common- 
wealth. 

We give Thee thanks for their valiant rebuke 
of injustice at the hands of the mother-country, for 
that patriotic response which met the appeal to 
arms for the assertion of independence, when the 
white-haired veteran and the youthful volunteer 
stood side by side in the heat of battle. We 
thank Thee for that holy impulse which suddenly 
transformed the patriot civilian into the patriot 
soldier. 

We bless Thee for the unrecorded fidelity of 
our ancestors, for the faithful but tranquil labor 
of the husbandman, who, from year to year sowed 
the seed in springtime and reaped the harvest in 
autumn, — they whose memory is chronicled in 
simple epitaph ; for the industrious mother who 
taught her sons and daughters with tender and 
patient affection, that she might present them in 
mature life, an honor to their station, "meet for 
the Master's use." 

We devoutly recall that this rich patrimony of 
sterling worth has come down to us in unbroken 
continuity, that we are closely and intimately re- 
lated to the early past. Thou hast taught us in 



36 THE TOWN OF DEDHAM. 

Thy servants, our fathers, that " The Lord's portion 
is His people." 

We would not seek to patronize their virtues. 
We sit humbly at their feet. We cherish the soil 
that tabernacles their dust. We would memorialize 
their deeds in lives of filial devotion to humanity, 
truth, and God. May the joyous commemorations 
of this day inspire us to strengthen the things that 
remain, bind us more closely together in charity 
and hope, that we may grow thereby into the like- 
ness of Him who died and rose again, their Saviour 
and ours, in whose name we pray. Amen. 

Mr. Seabury concluded with the Lord's prayer, 
in which many of those present joined. 



IV. 

ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDING OFFICER. 
Hon. Thomas L. Wakefield, 

Fellow- Citizens, — We have assembled in com- 
memoration of the Two Hundred and Fiftieth 
Anniversary of the incorporation of the Dedham 
of 1636. This ancient town was not limited to 
the boundaries of this our present municipality, 
but included within its limits the present towns of 
Dedham, Medfield, Wrentham, Medway, Needham, 
Bellingham, Walpole, Franklin, Dover, Norwood, 
Norfolk, Wellesley, Millis, and parts of Sherborn, 



25OTH ANNIVERSARY. 37 

Natick, Foxborough, Hyde Park, and the city of 
Boston. We, who are honored by retaining the 
old name, welcome you all, sons and daughters of 
the ancient Dedham, back to the old hearthstone, 
to join with us in this celebration. We unitedly 
bid a hearty welcome to your Excellency, the Chief 
Magistrate of the Commonwealth, and to all others 
in authority ; to all invited guests ; to all veterans 
of the several Grand Army Corps ; to all military 
and civil organizations ; and to all other good citi- 
zens who have come up hither to honor us with 
their presence and participate with us in the cele- 
bration of this interesting anniversary. 

On Sept. 10 (old style), 1636, the General Court 
granted to nineteen persons the land forming ancient 
Dedham for the purpose of making a settlement, — 
a common plantation. These nineteen persons were 
the sole proprietors of these common lands, subject 
to any claims of the Indians who inhabited them, 
until they admitted associates. 

They adopted a town covenant, or constitution, 
as we might call it, by which they were governed, 
and under which others, upon strict examination as 
to fitness, were admitted as inhabitants of the town, 
by signing the covenant binding them to fulfil its 
provisions. Subsequently the Indian titles were 
extinguished by equitable contract with Philip, the 
Sagamore, and the Sachems Chicatabot, Josias, 
Nehoiden, and Magus, whereupon their title became 
absolute. 



38 THE TOWN OF DEDHAM. 

The proprietors of this then infant township 
increased in numbers by constant additions from 
without; defended their rude but happy homes 
from the attacks of -the hostile and treacherous 
Indians by whom they were surrounded; intro- 
duced the arts of industry and civiHzation ; and 
with sturdy hands, year by year, turned the forests 
into fruitful fields, and caused the wilderness to 
blossom as the rose. 

When these first inhabitants came to this place, 
there were no general laws in the colony to regulate 
their intercourse and protect their lives and in- 
terests. They were a law unto themselves. As 
was said by a worthy historian of the town : " They 
formed a civil society out of its first simple ele- 
ments." This society originated in a compact; 
the laws derived their force from the consent of 
the people. This, with other similar settlements, 
" was the beginning of the American system of 
government." 

These little communities of Pilgrims, imbued with 
the idea of religious liberty in their native country, 
thus began in this then wilderness land to lay the 
foundations of a democratic civil government, upon 
which has been reared this grand superstructure of 
a free and independent republic. With pious care 
in establishing schools for the education of the 
children, and churches with devoted teachers and 
ministers of the gospel for their spiritual instruc- 
tion, under the fostering care of the Colonial and 



25OTH ANNIVERSARY. 39 

subsequently the State governments, this little com- 
munity has grown from infancy to mature age. 

We meet on this occasion to celebrate its birth- 
day with mutual congratulations, and to recount the 
virtues and heroic deeds of the fathers. In the 
felicitous language of the orator upon the two hun- 
dredth birthday of the town, which may well be 
repeated as often as this birthday celebration occurs, 
permit me to say : " Citizens of Dedham, you will 
find in your history much to gratify your just 
pride, much to excite honorable emulation. By 
intelligent and godly ancestors was this town 
planted ; by a manly and virtuous race has it been 
nourished and sustained. Its sons have fought the 
battles of their country ; they have led in its coun- 
cils. At no time, in no manner, have they failed to 
contribute an honorable share of the talent, the 
patriotism, the domestic virtues, which created and 
have built up this great Republic." 



V. 

ORIGINAL HYMN. 

By Rev. Seth C. Beach. 

Tune — " Dedham." 

To Him who formed the rolling spheres 
And guides them on their way, 

The circle of a thousand years 
Is but as yesterday. 



40 THE TOWN OF DEDHAM. 

Secure in His eternal might 

Our fathers braved the sea, 
And founded here in truth and right 
\ An empire of the free. 

He made the few and weak His care, 
And gave their seed increase ; 

He Hstened to His children's prayer, 
And led them on to peace. 

As unto them, thou God of grace, 
Still be from age to age ; 

Still grant the favor of Thy face, 
And bless our heritage. 



VI. 
HISTORICAL ADDRESS. 

By Erastus Worthington. 

We mark to-day the lapse of two hundred and 
fifty years since the name of Dedham was given to 
the plantation begun here in 1635. It is the name- 
day of the town, rather than its birthday, that we 
celebrate. The actual settlement was gradually 
made by successive steps, which may be distinctly 
traced by existing records. In May, 1635, leave 
was given by the General Court for the inhabitants 
of Watertown to remove whither they pleased, pro- 
vided they continued under the government.^ On 
the 3d of September, 1635, the Court ordered a 
plantation to be settled about two miles above the 

1 Mass. Col. Rec, vol. i. p. 148. 



250Tri ANNIVERSARY. 4I 

falls of Charles River, on the northeast side, with 
land on both sides of the river, to be laid out as 
the Court should appoint thereafter.^ The language 
of this order clearly implies that an exploration 
had already been made. According to Governor 
Winthrop, the town was begun in September, 1635.^ 
The town record of births began in the same year. 
In the succeeding March the Court appointed com- 
missioners to set out the bounds of the new planta- 
tion,^ who made a report April 13, 1636.* There is 
no existing record of any meeting of the settlers 
here until Aug. 18, 1636. Finally, on the fifth day 
of September, 1636, at a meeting of nineteen per- 
sons, the petition was signed for the enlargement 
and confirmation of the grant of the previous year. 
The Town Covenant had already been drawn up, and 
had been signed by the petitioners. On the 8th of 
September, according to the General Court records,^ 
or on the loth of September, according to our town 
records, the order was passed which gave to the 
plantation the name of Dedham, with lands not 
before granted to any town or person, on the east- 
erly and southerly side of the river, and an addi- 
tional grant of five miles square on the other side 
of the river. In this brief and informal order are 
comprised all the corporate powers with which the 
town was ever specially invested. To borrow the 

1 Mass. Col. Rec, vol. i. p. 159. ^ Winthrop, vol. i. p. 167. 

8 Mass. Col. Rec, vol. i. p. 169. * Ibid., p. 175. 

^ Ibid., vol. i. p. iSo. 



42 THE TOWN OF DEDHAM. 

words of an old legal definition, the " invisible and 
immortal " corporation then created under the name 
of Dedham has now existed for two hundred and 
fifty years, without any essential change in its civil 
constitution. The old town still preserves its cor- 
porate identity and its name. In outward conditions 
great changes have been wrought. Fifteen other 
towns now occupy territory included within the 
original grants, beside that portion within the limits 
of Boston. Political revolutions have changed the 
Colony to the Province, and the Province to the 
Commonwealth. The union between church and 
town, for two hundred years an inherent part of its 
legal constitution, has been dissolved. Eight gen- 
erations of men have been born, have lived and died 
here. But the town government, protected by the 
just limitations of legislative authority on the one 
hand, and giving to the peojDle the right to manage 
and direct its civil administration on the other, has 
retained its hold of life with a wonderful tenacity. 
The Dedham of 1636 and of 1886 are one and the 
same by historic continuity, however they may be sep- 
arated by time. Let us then first congratulate the 
old town that two hundred and fifty years have not 
so diminished the vigor of her corporate life, that she 
may not look hopefully forward to another century ; 
and may we not appropriately ascribe to her the 
words of the refrain in Tennyson's familiar song, — 

" For men may come, and men may go, 
But I go on forever." 



25OTII ANNIVERSARY. 43 

Dedham was not among the more conspicuous 
towns of the Massachusetts Colony. It never 
gained the prestige of the college town, nor the 
importance of the maritime towns. No dramatic 
event is associated with its name. It never expe- 
rienced the horrors of an Indian attack, nor was it 
a battle-field in the opening scenes of the Revolu- 
tion ; but it was one of the first two inland towns, 
— the other being Concord, — and they were coeval 
in their settlement.^ It was a Puritan town of the 
best type, founded by men of intelligence, foresight, 
and enterprise, admirably organized, and favored by 
a wise administration of its affairs from its very 
beginning. In its full, continuous, and well-pre- 
served records we find clearly exhibited the leading 
ideas of the Colonists, as well as a rare aptitude for 
public affairs. In the great crises of colonial his- 
tory its quotas of men and money were not far 
behind the leading towns, and there was scarcely 
a period for two hundred years when Dedham did 
not furnish some man of more than a local renown 
for the public service. While therefore its history 
may be wanting in those thrilling events which 
arrest the attention of the world, yet it is one 
which must command the respect and admiration 
of thoughtful men ; and for us who are " native 
here, and to the manner born," it has an unceasing 
interest, even in its repetition. Surely on such a 
commemorative occasion as this, we cannot forbear 

1 Mass. Col. Rec, vol. i. p. 148. 



44 THE TOWN OF DEDHAM 

to review some chapters of that history, and per- 
chance we may find some new grounds to cherish 
the memory of the men who have lived here 
before us. 

The Colony of Massachusetts Bay had a distinct 
and independent origin, differing in many respects 
from that of the Plymouth Colony, although the two 
are frequently confounded by popular writers, and 
even by some historians. They were planted by 
men of different antecedents, holding different rela- 
tions to the Established Church ; and l)efore coming 
to New England, there was no agreement or con- 
nection between them. The Pilgrim was a Sepa- 
ratist ; the Puritan was a Non-conformist. Here 
in New England the two Colonies were frequently 
united for their common defence, and by their simi- 
larity and proximity the people were gradually 
drawn together ; yet there continued to be some 
essential differences between them until the con- 
solidation under the provincial charter in 1692. 
The Massachusetts Company, formed in England 
in 1623, was at first a stock company, organized 
only for commercial ventures. The Massachusetts 
coast was then well known to navigators. Before 
Columbus saw the mainland of America, the Cabots 
had discovered the continent, and had sailed along 
the coast from Newfoundland to North Carolina. 
In 1 6 14 Captain John Smith had explored the coast, 
and made his well-known map on which the name 
of New England first appeared, and our river re- 



25OTH ANNIVERSARY. 45 

celved the name of Charles, for Prince Charles, 
afterwards Charles I. of England. It was an era 
of commercial activity, and the Massachusetts Com- 
pany embarked in the fur trade and cod fisheries. 
They obtained their franchise under the Great Patent 
of New England, which was granted by the Crown 
in 1620, just about a month before the "casual 
landing" of the Pilgrims.^ In 1624 the Company 
sent over fifty vessels to engage in the fisheries ; 
but these enterprises proving unprofitable, they were 
soon abandoned. The father of the Massachusetts 
Colony was the Rev. John White, of Dorchester, 
England, a Puritan divine, though a Conformist. 
It was he who first conceived the idea of planting 
a colony here for commercial purposes. When these 
were abandoned, he turned his attention to colonists 
of another sort. He succeeded in enlisting in his 
plan the co-operation of certain Puritan Non-con- 
formists, men of character and intelligence, who 
saw in the project of a new colony the way opened 
for relief from their distressing position as non- 
conformists to the liturgy of the Anglican Church. 
Among the six new patentees, representing the body 
of one hundred and ten other members of the com- 
pany, was Captain John Endicott, a stanch Puritan, 
who was sent over to Salem with a small colony in 
1628. This was the first impulse of the new emi- 
gration. On the 4th of March, 1629, a new charter 
was obtained directly from the Crown, which granted 
^ Archasologia Americana, p. 15. 



46 THE TOWN OF DEDHAM. 

to the company the territory lying between the 
Merrimack and three miles north of it, and the 
Charles and three miles south of it ; and what was 
of greater import to the future colony, besides the 
territorial grants and some commercial privileges, it 
also conferred the powers of government. This was 
the colony charter under which Massachusetts "grew 
and waxed strong in spirit" for more than sixty 
years. John Winthrop was chosen governor, and 
active preparations were immediately begun for 
colonization in force, with a scrupulous care to the 
wants and contingencies of a new plantation. It 
was now decided to remove the seat of government, 
which had hitherto been in England, and to transfer 
the charter to New England. Governor Winthrop, 
accompanied by about twenty members of the com- 
pany, bearing the charter, arrived on the "Arbella" 
in Salem harbor, April ii, 1630. It was the "Ar- 
bella," and not the " Mayflower," that first brought 
to Massachusetts Bay a royal charter which gave 
the guaranties of local self-government, and which 
may be said to have foreshadowed the future inde- 
pendence of the people of Massachusetts. 

These events were the beginning of a coloniza- 
tion which, regarding both the numbers and charac- 
ter of the colonists, is without a parallel in history. 
In the next fifteen years nearly three hundred ships 
brought more than twenty-one thousand people to 
the shores of Massachusetts Bay.^ These colonists 

^ Johnson's Wonder- Working Providence (Poole's ed.), p. 31. 



25OTH ANNIVERSARY. 47 

had come with a common, well-defined purpose, 
under the ample protection of a royal charter; they 
had brought all their worldly substance, and they 
had come to stay. These were the men who moulded 
the civil government and ecclesiastical system which 
were peculiar to Massachusetts. But they were not 
only the unconscious builders of a great Common- 
wealth ; they were the progenitors of a race now 
numbered by millions, scattered through this broad 
land, whose pronounced religious character and 
opinions were distinctly impressed upon their de- 
scendants to the third generation, and which have 
not yet wholly ceased to exert their power.^ 

History does not justify the conclusion that all 
this great company of settlers were impelled by 
exclusively religious considerations. The same 
powerful impulse towards colonization was felt in 
England by Churchman, Romanist, and Quaker, as 
well as by Pilgrim and Puritan; and not only in 
England, but in France and Spain, Holland and 
Sweden. It seems like a prophecy of our com- 
posite American civilization that, at not long inter- 
vals of time, along the coast from Maine to Florida, 
settlements were made by Europeans of different 
tongues and creeds. Doubtless not a few of the 
passengers in the ships of the Massachusetts Com- 
pany had in their minds the fur trade and the 
fisheries. Perhaps more were allured by the dream 
of proprietorship in broad acres, which has always 
^ See Preface to Dr. Palfrey's History of New England. 



48 THE TOWN OF DEDHAM. 

made America seem a promised land to the Euro- 
pean. But after all that can be justly said of these 
diversities in the purposes of the Massachusetts 
colonists, still the historical fact remains unaffected, 
that the leading idea of the controlling minds of 
the company, not distinctly avowed in England for 
prudential reasons, but none the less profoundly 
entertained and acted upon, was to plant a colony 
here, where they might worship God in their own 
way, in the company exclusively of those having 
the same mind and faith, without let or hindrance 
from any external civil or ecclesiastical authority, or 
molestation from any person whatsoever. 

The Puritans have been frequently misunderstood, 
and so they have been the subjects both of indis- 
criminate eulogy and undeserved censure. They 
were not religious enthusiasts or political dreamers. 
They did not seek to divorce the Church from the 
State. They did not mean to provide here a refuge 
for men of any creed who might come to them 
through discontent or fly to them from persecution. 
Toleration was an unknown word in their time, and 
they are to be judged by the standards of thought 
in their own time. At home in England they had 
belonged to the Established Church, and they never 
renounced its communion. Before coming here, they 
had never become a sect under a distinctive name. 
But they were members of a powerful and growing 
party in the Anglican Church, which sought to carry 
out the Reformation according to the principles and 



25OTH ANNIVERSARY. 49 

practice of the continental reformers. Almost a 
hundred and fifty years before Luther, nearly the 
same doctrines that he taught had been maintained 
in England by Wycliffe.^ But the English reforma- 
tion had progressed slowly, with serious reverses, 
under different dynasties. The continental refor- 
mation had been more rapid and complete. During 
the persecutions many of the Puritan clergy in the 
reign of Queen Mary had taken refuge in Germany 
and Switzerland. In the city of Geneva they had be- 
come disciples in the school of John Calvin, and had 
embraced not only his theological dogmas, but his 
church polity and simple forms of worship. The 
powerful influence of Calvin's teachings had been 
widely felt in England. From the middle of the six- 
teenth century, the controversy about ceremonies and 
vestments had proceeded. But when finally the arm 
of the civil power of the kingdom was stretched 
forth to enforce conformity to the liturgy under 
heavy penalties, and the non-conforming clergy were 
deprived of their livings, their position became dis- 
tressing and insupportable. With them compromise 
was Impossible ; their alternative was either conform- 
ity or voluntary expatriation, and they reluctantly 
chose the latter. They parted with sorrow from the 
land and homes they loved, so that they might freely 
enjoy their simple forms of worship beyond the sea.^ 

1 Hallam's Constitutional History, vol. i. p. 57. 

2 The authorities for the view of the character and purposes of the 
Massachusetts Colonies here presented, are the " Planter's Plea," by 
Rev. John W^hite, London, 1630, partly reprinted in Young's '• Chroni- 



50 THE TOWN OF DEDHAM. 

Of such men as these were the founders of Ded- 
ham. Their EngUsh homes were chiefly in the 
eastern counties of England, — Suffolk, Essex, and 
Norfolk. Few, if any of them, were known to each 
other before coming here. They found at Water- 
town a temporary resting-place, but there was no 
room for them in that crowded settlement. They 
were forced to find homes elsewhere. Robert Feake, 
a relative of Governor Winthrop, and a prominent 
man at Watertown, was the first signer of the Cov- 
enant, and had an allotment of land ; but he never 
removed here. The leader of the pioneers was 
Edward Alleyn, a man of capacity and education. 
The authorship of the Town Covenant, to which at 
different times the signatures of one hundred and 
twenty-five men were affixed, is to be attributed to 
him. It is a document which embodies the general 
purposes of the plantation, which are expressed with 
dignity, simplicity, and brevity. The names of all 
the pioneers who actually came here cannot be pre- 
cisely stated ; but among them, besides Mr. Edward 
Alleyn, were John Dwight, Richard Everard, Abra- 
ham Shaw, Samuel Morse, Philemon Dalton, Lam- 
bert Genere, John Gay, and John Ellis. All these 
were signers of the petition, and removed here from 

cles of Massachusetts ; " Palfrey's " History of New England,'' vol. i. 
chap. iii. ; the learned monograph on the Massachusetts Company, by 
Samuel F. Haven, in the " Archsologia Americana ; " and the chapter 
on the Puritan Commonwealth in the " Memorial History of Boston," 
by Dr. George E. Ellis, where the authorities are collated, and the whole 
subject is comprehensively and judicially treated. 



250Tri ANNIVERSARY. 5 1 

Watertown. The prayer of the petition to the 
General Court was that the town be distinguished 
by the name of Contentment, or otherwise as the 
Court should please. The Court inserted the name 
of Dedham. While we have no definite historical 
evidence why this name was given, we may draw 
the obvious but satisfactory inference that there 
were some of the settlers who had lived in Dedham, 
England. It is supposed that John Dvvight, John 
Page, and John Rogers were of this number.^ It is 
not improbable that there were others, as little is 
now known concerning the places of their nativity. 
That it was a favorite idea with the Colonists thus to 
perpetuate the names of their English homes, is well 
known. A glance at the map of Essex and Suffolk, 
England, will show how many names were repeated 
in Essex and Suffolk in the Massachusetts Colony. 
Dedham in England is a delightful, but quiet 
town, in the valley of the Stour, a small river which 
divides Essex from Suffolk. It lies about fifty-seven 
miles northeast from London, and some four miles 
from Manningtree station. It is rarely found on 
the maps. It lies in the midst of a sheep-grazing 
country ; and, formerly, a source of prosperity to its 
people was the manufacture of wool on hand-looms. 
It is a quiet, picturesque place now, where artists go 
for sketches ; and the scene of a recent English mag- 
azine story was laid there.^ In the description there 

1 Worthington's History of Dedliam, p. 31. 

2 The Ueadleigh Sweep, CornhiU Magazine, 1SS6. 



52 THE TOWN OF DEDHAM. 

given, one may easily find points of resemblance 
between our Dedham and its English prototype. 

It consists of one broad street of old houses, some 
plaster and timber with acute gables toward the 
street, and of brick mansions erected between the 
reigns of Queen Anne and George IV. ; of a stone 
church of the fifteenth century, with a stately tower, 
and encrusted with mural tablets ; of an assembly- 
room with a Doric portico, and of a red brick gram- 
mar-school with moulded brick pediments, cornices, 
and picturesque windows, and a cricket-ground be- 
hind, shadowed by giant elms. 

Although the signers of the petition may be re- 
garded as the nominal founders of the town, yet out 
of the nineteen, only eight were long identified with 
it, or had any permanent influence in its organiza- 
tion. The rest either removed or died soon after 
the beginning of the town. But in 1637 the com- 
pany received new and important accessions to its 
principal men, who came here directly from Eng- 
land. Among these were John Allin, Eleazer 
Lusher, Michael Metcalf, Anthony Fisher, Daniel 
Fisher, and Francis Chickering. These, with those 
already here and others who followed soon after, are 
to be regarded as the efficient founders of the town. 

We find, in the records, surprising evidence of the 
energy and foresight of these men in organizing the 
settlement. They went about the work of forming 
a civil society with the certainty of instinct. It 
must be remembered that as yet there were no 



25OTH ANNIVERSARY. 53 

general laws of the Colony to regulate their interests 
or to direct them in their affairs. The first code 
of colony laws, known as the Body of Liberties, was 
not passed until 1641. But they had brought with 
them a strong endowment of that common-sense 
which has been said to be the source of the com- 
mon law of England. They had been trained to a 
knowledge of the great underlying principles of 
civil society. They had only to transplant here in 
the wilderness such laws and customs as would 
serve their purpose, but these were derived from a 
civilization which had been the growth of centuries. 
They knew the difference between organic law and 
municipal regulations. The Town Covenant was 
their constitution. It declares that none were to be 
received unless they were probably of one heart 
with them. It provides for a settlement of differ- 
ence by reference to two or three others. It im- 
poses the duty of every man owning land to pay his 
share of taxes, ratably with other men. It an- 
nounces the purposes of the settlement to be "a 
loving and comfortable society." This was sub- 
scribed by every townsman as he was admitted, dur- 
ing many years. But they also passed many muni- 
cipal regulations in the beginning. Great care was 
taken that no unfit person should be admitted. One 
ordinance declared that every man should give in- 
formation of what he knew concerning any man in 
town, before he should be admitted " into the soci- 
ety of such as seek peace and ensue it." No propri- 



54 THE TOWN OF DEDHAM. 

etor could sell his lands without the leave of the 
company. The purpose of these ordinances was to 
keep off " the contrary-minded." In the division of 
lands, they granted each married man a home lot of 
twelve acres, and each unmarried man eight acres. 
These were all surveyed, and an instrument of title 
given, which was dul.y recorded. They reserved a 
common tillage-field in which every man's share 
was defined. They laid out herd-walks or common 
pastures where all cattle might feed. They pro- 
vided for the maintenance of fences and the keep- 
ing of swine, horses, and cattle. As early as 1637, a 
long ordinance was passed for the establishment of 
highways. All rivers and ponds, except those en- 
closed by lands of one owner, were to be kept from 
being appropriated, and for the use of the inhabi- 
tants for " fishing or otherwise as occasion may 
require." It will be observed, in these ordinances, 
how the common weal was made paramount to 
every private interest. In 1644 they granted lands 
for a school fund, and they raised ;i^20 to pay the 
school-master. They set apart the training-field, 
and organized the train-band, which had a weekly 
exercise in the beginning. At first they were em- 
ployed the greater portion of their time in public 
business, and after three years they delegated to 
seven men all powers except granting lands and 
admitting townsmen. These were the first Select- 
men of Dedham. In all these ways they showed 
how much more they thought of building up a com- 



25OTH ANNIVERSARY. 55 

fortable society than of building comfortable cot- 
tages for themselves. No sooner had they reared 
their rude cabins in the forest than their thoughts 
were turned to converting it into a settlement where 
all might enjoy the blessings of civilized life. 

The subject uppermost in their thoughts was the 
gathering of a church. At first they worshipped 
under one of the large trees east of D wight s Brook, 
or Little River.' They began to build a meeting- 
house in 1638, but it was not finished until 1646. 
It was placed on this spot, after some difference of 
opinion, as the record runs, " in loving satisfaction to 
some neighbors on the East side of Little River." 
Mr. AUin has left a minute and graphic history of 
the formation of the church, now preserved on the 
church records, written by his own hand. To the 
founders it was a great and solemn work, to be under- 
taken with the utmost care and deliberation. They 
spent a whole winter in conferences, that they might 
become acquainted with "each other's gifts and 
graces." It was first proposed that the members of 
the Watertown church of their own number should 
lay the foundation, but this was declined. Then they 
began the delicate and trying duty of determining 
who among themselves " were meet for the work." 
After a day of fasting and prayer, " every one laying 
aside all ambitious desires of being taken into the 
work, and overmuch bashfulness in refusing the 
same, they should willingly submit themselves to 

^ Lamson's Historical Discourses, 1838, p. 7. 



56 THE TOWN OF DEDHAM. 

the judgment of the whole company to be taken or 
left as ordered by the rule of the Gospel," six were 
agreed upon by common consent. But they could 
not so easily agree upon the others. There was no 
shrinking in their scrutiny. They were no respect- 
ers of persons. It was " judgment laid to the line 
and righteousness to the plummet." Edward Al- 
leyn himself had given some offence, and he was 
required to wait for further testimonies from friends 
in England. Anthony Fisher had a false confi- 
dence. Joseph Kingsbury was too much addicted 
to the world, and Thomas Morse was dark and un- 
satisfying in his religious experience, though his 
life was innocent. Finally, Edward Alleyn and 
John Hunting were accepted ; and on the 8th of 
November, 1638, having obtained the consent of the 
Governor and Magistrates and sent a letter to the 
elders of the neighboring churches, and after spend- 
ing the previous day in fasting and prayer, the first 
church of Dedham and the fourteenth in the Colony, 
in the words of Mr. Allin, " was made a spiritual 
house." Another severe trial awaited them in the 
choice of a pastor. Mr. Thomas Carter, a signer 
of the Covenant, was thought of ; but he was called 
to Woburn. Mr. John Phillips, an eminent divine, 
formerly rector at Wrentham, England, was much 
desired ; but he declined. The choice finally fell 
on Mr. John Allin as pastor and John Hunting as 
ruling elder. At the ordination, although the el- 
ders of the other churches were present, they took 



25OTH ANNIVERSARY. 57 

no further part than to extend the right hand of 
fellowship. The laying on of hands was done by 
members of the church, and in this service they 
followed the usage of other churches in the Colony. 
These proceedings had an intense and absorbing 
interest for these earnest-minded men, and give us 
a srood insisfht into their characters. Beneath their 
quaint forms of speech, it is easy to see how tena- 
ciously they held to their rule of discipline and 
faith, and how rigidly they applied to themselves 
the same rule that they did to others, in determin- 
ing fitness for church-membership. 

The planters in their petition had desired that 
the name of Contentment should be given to the 
town, but to them this did not signify the content- 
ment of repose or inaction; on the contrary, they 
exhibited a remarkable energy in forwarding public 
enterprises. In their need of a corn-mill, they sought 
for an eligible site where they might build a dam for 
water-power. Some quick eye discovered that East 
Brook, which ran to the Neponset, would give the 
needed fall, but not sufficient water. The sources 
of this brook were about three fourths of a mile from 
Charles River, and lower than the bed of the river. 
The problem then was to unite the waters of the 
Charles and of East Brook. No sooner was the 
plan conceived than it was determined to execute 
it. On the twenty-fifth day of March, 1639, the 
town ordered that the channel be dug at the com- 
mon charge, " that it may form a suitable creek unto 



58 THE TOWN OF DEDHAM. 

a water-mill, that it shall be found fitting to set a 
mill upon, in the opinion of a workman to be em- 
ployed for that purpose." This required the cut- 
ting of a channel twenty feet wide for three fourths 
of a mile, and a further widening of the channel of 
East Brook. Who were employed in this work 
cannot be discovered, but the canal was dug and a 
dam and mill built upon it as early as 1640. It was 
undertaken without any aid or authority from the 
General Court ; and so far as is known, it was their 
own right arms that accomplished the work. This 
was an enterprise of no small proportions, and its 
benefits to the town have been far reach insf. For 
two centuries it furnished power for a saw-mill and a 
grist-mill. Since the beginning of the present cen- 
tury there have been five mill-dams on the stream, 
and extensive cotton and woollen mills, with other 
manufactories. To-day it is the source of the great- 
est industrial enterprise of the town, and is the best 
existing monument of the energy and foresight of 
the settlers. 

Another work showing their practical forethought 
was undertaken in 1652. At the beginning of the 
settlement, what is now called " Dedham Island " 
was a neck of land containing about twelve hundred 
acres, around which Charles River flowed with a 
slight fall in its course, a distance of nearly five 
miles in an irregular horse-shoe bend. There was 
a distance of only two thirds of a mile across the 
meadows at the heel of this bend, and here the 



25OTH ANNIVERSARY. 59 

upper and lower channels of the river are distinctly 
visible. On this neck was a herd-walk, and perhaps 
some houses. The damage to the meadows by the 
waters remaining upon them was felt by the settlers 
to be serious, as it has been by every succeeding 
generation of riparian owners. Accordingly they 
conceived and executed the plan of cutting a creek 
or ditch through " Broad Meadows," thus uniting 
the upper and lower channels of the river. The 
purpose of this creek was to permit the overflow 
of water in times of freshets through this artificial 
channel, instead of allowing it to accumulate along 
its natural and circuitous course below. This chan- 
nel still exists; and though much obstructed, if it 
were cleared there is no reason to doubt it would 
fulfil the purpose of its projectors. 

But the enterprise of the Dedham settlers was not 
confined to the immediate neighborhood of the vil- 
lage. Almost at the beginning their attention had 
been drawn to the beautiful and extensive mead- 
ows at Bogastow, afterwards Medfield. Edward 
Alleyn had a grant of three hundred and fifty 
acres there before his death in 1642. In 1651 
Medfield was made a new town, with Mr. Wheelock, 
of the Dedham church, as its church teacher. It 
was therefore an offshoot from the Dedham set- 
tlement. They had also found the fine ponds and 
lands at Wollomonopoag, afterwards Wrentham. 
In 167 1 it was voted that a plantation be set up 
there. They had some negotiations with Philip of 



60 THE TOWN OF DEDHAM. 

Mount Hope as to his claims of title ; but the settle- 
ment went forward, and hither went their sons and 
sons-in-law to find their new homes. The affairs of 
the new plantation for a time were directed by Ded- 
ham men, and so it may be regarded as peculiarly 
a child of Dedham ; but in 1673 it was made a sep- 
arate town under the name of Wrentham, given, no 
doubt, by reason of Mr. AUin's connection with 
Wrentham, England. 

These new settlements had been planted within 
the territory of the original grants to the Dedham 
proprietors. They planted another settlement, a 
hundred miles away in the wilderness. In 1651 
the Ceneral Court, with the assent of the Dedham 
proprietors, had granted two thousand acres of land 
for the Indian town at Natick. A dispute after- 
wards arose respecting the boundaries of this grant, 
which was the subject of a lawsuit that resulted 
substantially in favor of Natick. To compensate 
Dedham, the Court granted to the proprietors eight 
thousand acres of unlocated lands, wherever in the 
colony they might select them. Accordingly they 
sent out messengers to make explorations. The 
"chestnut country," near Lancaster, was reported 
to have good land, but hard to cultivate, and there 
were not enough meadows. John Fairbanks, an 
enterprising explorer, informed the Selectmen of 
some good land twelve miles from Hadley ; and he, 
with Lieutenant Daniel Fisher, was sent out to find 
it, and they returned with the report of a good land. 



25OTII ANNIVERSARY. 6 1 

This was Pocumtuck, the present town of Deerfield. 
Whoever has seen the lovely valley where old Deer- 
field lies, with the broad interval and the graceful 
sweep of the river around it, must applaud with 
enthusiasm the choice of the Dedham explorers. 
In 1670 the proprietors assembled at Dedham, laid 
out the town in lots, and selected a site for the 
meeting-house. All the proprietors were Dedham 
men, excepting Captain Pynchon, of Springfield, 
and four others. In 1672 further orders were passed 
for oreanizins: the settlement. But the remoteness 
of Pocumtuck rendered its becoming a separate 
town inevitable. The shares of the proprietors 
were finally sold, and Deerfield became a separate 
town in 1682. 

Edward Johnson, in his history entitled "Wonder 
Working Providence of Zion's Saviour," writing 
about 1 65 1, thus describes the Dedham settle- 
ment: — 

" Dedham is an inland town about ten miles from Bos- 
ton, well watered with many pleasant streams, abounding 
with garden fruits, fitly to supply the market of the most 
populous town, whose coyne and commodities allure the 
inhabitants of this town to make many a long walk. They 
consist of about a hundred families, generally given to 
husbandry, and through the blessing of God are much 
increased, ready to swarm and settle on the building of 
another town more to the inland. They gathered into a 
church at their first settling; for, indeed, as this was their 
chief errand, so it was the first thing they ordinarily minded 
to pitch their tabernacles near the Lord's tent. . . . They 



62 THE TOWN OF DEDHAM. 

have continued in much love and unity from their first 
foundation, hitherto translating the close clouded woods 
into goodly cornfields, and adding much comfort to the 
lonesome travellers in their solitary journey to Canectico, 
by eyeing the habitations of God's people in their way, 
ready to administer refreshing to the weary." 

Such was the work accomplished by the emigrant 
settlers during a period of a quarter of a century. 
When we add to these achievements the hand-to- 
hand contest with the forest and the soil, the care 
of the herds upon which their subsistence de- 
pended, the monthly assembly for military training 
and the weekly lecture, the settlement of boundary 
lines and of Indian claims, we are able to form 
some estimate of the variety and magnitude of their 
labors. Lord Bacon says that in "the true marshal- 
ling of the degrees of honor, the first place is to be 
given to the founders of States and Common- 
wealths." Let then the highest tribute of this day 
be paid to the men who planted here in the wilder- 
ness the best civilization of their time, illumined 
by a simple and genuine religious faith. 

We naturally desire to know something of the 
personal history and character of these men. First 
in order of precedence should be named Edward 
Alleyn, the leader of the pioneers. Of his English 
history we know nothing. He was the first Town 
Clerk and the first Deputy to the General Court; 
and he died suddenly while attending the Court in 
1642. He apparently was a layman, and his brief 



25OTH ANNIVERSARY. 63 

career was sufficient to stamp his name indelibly 
upon our history. 

John Dwight was an active citizen, and was a 
Selectman for sixteen years. He brought with him 
from England his son Timothy, a child of five years, 
who, when he reached manhood, became more promi- 
nent than his father. He was the Town Clerk for 
ten years, and a Selectman for twenty-four years. 
He died in 1718, and was the last survivor of the 
first settlers. The name of Dwight has long since 
disappeared in Dedham. But Timothy Dwight 
was the progenitor of a numerous family, some of 
whom intermarried with Dedham families, while 
others bearing: the name made their homes in 
the Connecticut valley, whose descendants have 
been eminent in many professions and callings. 
Each succeeding generation down to the present 
one has added a new lustre to the name of Timothy 
Dwight.^ 

The Rev. John Allin, the pastor, was born in 
1596, but the place of his nativity has not yet been 
ascertained. He was educated at Caius College, 
Cambridge, where he took his Master's degree in 
161 9. He was instituted rector at the Church of 
St. Mary at the Quay, in Ipswich, in 1620. He was 
married at Wrentham, Oct. 10, 1622, where his 
eldest son was born. He was probably deprived of 

* Dr. Timothy Dwight, the distinguished President of Yale College, 
1795-1817, and his grandson Dr. Timothy Dwight, chosen to the same 
office in 1886, are descendants of Timothy Dwight, of Dedham. 



64 THE TOWN OF DEDHAM. 

his living in 1637.-^ While there is doubt concern- 
ing some facts of his English history, there can be 
no doubt concerning his character and influence 
here. As a divine he was eminent for his learning, 
ability, and graces of character. With Shepard, he 
was a champion of the Puritan churches, and with 
Eliot he was a co-laborer in the conversion of the 
Indians. He also bore a prominent part in direct- 
ing the civil affairs and public enterprises of the 
town. He was possessed of a large landed estate, 
and his second marriage with the widow of Gov- 
ernor Thomas Dudley added to his worldly sub- 
stance. Joseph Dudley, who afterwards was high 
in office but obnoxious to the people, was educated 
in the family of Mr. Allin. 

Major Eleazer Lusher was without doubt the 
ablest and most efficient man amons: the settlers. 
He was a founder of the church, the Town Clerk for 
twenty-three years, and a Selectman for twenty-nine 
years. He was Captain of the train-band, and Ma- 
jor of the Suffolk Regiment. He was one of the 
original founders of the Ancient and Honorable 
Artillery Company. He was a Deputy from the 
town to the General Court, and afterwards one of 
the Assistants of the Colony for eleven years. He 
was also often employed in the affairs of the Colony 
by special appointment, and in 1671 was the chair- 

1 Some new facts of interest concerning the English history of Rev. 
John Allin have been brous:ht to light by Professor William F. Allen, 
of Madison, Wisconsin. These will be found in the N. E. Historical 
and Genealogical Register for January, 1887. 



25OTH ANNIVERSARY. 65 

man of a committee to collate the laws of the 
Colony. Edward Johnson describes him " as a 
man of the right stamp, of pure mettle, a gracious, 
humble, heavenly-minded man." ^ 

Captain Daniel Fisher was admitted to the church 
in 1639. He was a Selectman for thirty-two years, 
a Deputy to the General Court, and Speaker of the 
House of Deputies for three years ; afterwards he 
was one of the Assistants, in which ofHce he died 
in 1683. He was a man of high patriotic spirit, and 
is said to have been learned in the law.^ Toward the 
close of the long struggle for the preservation of the 
Colonial Charter, Daniel Fisher became prominent. 
He was one of the four whom Randolph accused of 
hisfh crimes and misdemeanors.^ His children were 
imbued with the same indomitable spirit. It was his 
son Daniel of whom the familiar story has been told 
of leading Sir Edmund Andros through the streets 
of Boston, April 19, 1689. This dramatic incident 
rests upon a tradition in his family for authority, but 
it also corresponds with the historic account of the 
events of that day, and may be accepted as authen- 
tic* He was the great-grandfather of Fisher Ames. 
Lydia Fisher, the sister of the second Daniel, when 

1 Wonder Working Providence (Poole's ed.), p. no. 

2 Dexter's Centennial Sermon, p. 26, note. 

^ Palfrey's History of New England, vol. iii. p. 365. 

* This fact was first stated in Worthington's History, 1827, p. 51. 
It rests upon the authority of a family tradition, communicated to the 
author by Hon. Ebenezer Fisher, a great-grandson of the Daniel 
Fisher referred to. The statement has since been often quoted, and 
its truth has never been questioned. 



66 THE TOWN OF DEDHAM. 

a young woman of nineteen, went to Hadley to 
become the confidential attendant of Goffe and 
Whalley, the Regicides, who were then concealed 
in the house of Rev. Mr. Russell. This was in 
1671 ; and she was probably selected for this some- 
what perilous mission through the intervention of 
her brother Daniel, who had occasion to pass 
through Hadley on his way to Deerfield. The 
place where the Regicides were then concealed was 
known to but few persons in the whole Colony, and 
Lydia Fisher deserves to be remembered as a wo- 
man who kept not only a simple secret, but a great 
colonial secret, on which the lives of the Regicides 
themselves and perhaps other lives depended.^ 

There were other men worthy of special mention : 
Michael Metcalf, at one tim.e the schoolmaster; 
Lieutenant Joshua Fisher, the keeper of the ordi- 
nary, and town surveyor; and Francis Chickering, 
Deputy to the General Court. But this was a 

* Lydia Fisher was born in Dedham, July 14, 1652 ; was married to 
Nathaniel Chickering Dec. 3, 1674, and died in Needham. July 17, 1737. 
The fact of her attendance upon the Regicides at Hadley in 1671, for 
about a year, is attested by the family papers. It has been asserted 
that her father, Captain Daniel Fisher, concealed the Regicides near 
his house in Dedham for a time, and that Lydia here ministered to 
them and rode behind one of them on a pillion to Hadley. The Regi- 
cides left Boston Feb. 26, i66r, and arrived in New Haven March 7. 
They remained in concealment in that vicinity until they went to 
Hadley Oct. 13, 1664. It is very probable that on their nine days' 
journey to New Haven they rested at Dedham, but they did not tarry 
long. Lydia at that time was less than nine years of age, and Goffe 
and Whalley did not go from Dedham to Hadley, but from New 
Haven, and more than three years afterwards. — Palfrey's History 
of New England, vol. ii. chap. xiii. 



25OTH ANNIVERSARY. 67 

society in which no distinction was recognized, save 
that founded upon service rendered to the Colony, 
the town, or the church. The elders, the deacons, 
and the officers of the train-band were the only 
title-bearers. The pastor himself was only desig- 
nated as Mr. Allin, though the prefix implied some 
social distinction. In the village of 1664 we find 
all the names of the well-known Dedham families 
now represented among us: Avery, Bullard, Ba- 
ker, Bacon, Colburn, Eaton, Everett, Ellis, Fales, 
Fairbanks, Farrington, Fuller, Guild, Gay, Kings- 
bury, Morse, Onion, Richards, Wright, Wilson, 
Whiting, — all had houses here in 1664. 

But the time came when the leaders of the first 
generation were to rest from their labors. In 1675 
all save Captain Daniel Fisher, Timothy Dwight, 
and Richard Everard had passed away. Another 
generation had succeeded, and the rule of peaceful 
life was about to be broken. 

In 1673 the Selectmen were summoned by the 
General Court to prepare the town for defence 
against the Indians, who were then incited to hos- 
tilities by Philip of Mount Hope. The train-band 
was called out for frequent exercise. The great 
gun, called a " drake," given to the town by the 
General Court in 1650, was mounted. A barrel of 
gunpowder and ammunition were procured. A gar- 
rison was maintained and a watch set. Many fled to 
Boston for safety. The Wrentham settlers packed 
their goods and brought their families to Dedham. 



68 THE TOWN OF DEDHAM. 

All Indians in the town were ordered to depart. 
Dedham had some natural advantages for purposes 
of defence, but these precautions saved the settle- 
ment from attack. Philip had met the Dedham 
men in the negotiation of treaties, and perhaps saw 
good reason to avoid them. But Dedham soldiers 
did good service in the war. Near its close a party 
of Dedham and Medfield men captured Pomham, 
a Narragansett sachem, with fifty followers, in Ded- 
ham woods, which was considered an achievement 
of material importance to the final issue. Nor did 
those nearly connected with Dedham wholly es- 
cape the bloody horrors of that war. Besides the 
burning of Medfield and the deserted houses at 
Wrentham, in the fearful massacre at Bloody Brook, 
Robert Hinsdale, one of the founders of the Ded- 
ham church who had removed to Hadley, perished 
with his three sons while moving their crops from 
Deerfield. 

The close of Philip's War marked the beginning 
of great changes. There had long existed a desire 
to extend the area of the settlement to the west 
and south. In 1682 a vote was passed that no one 
should move more than two miles from the meet- 
ing-house. This was an attempt to repress the 
disposition to leave the village. It was not un- 
til fifty years afterwards that new parishes were 
formed. But when the fear of the Indians had been 
quieted, the young men could* no longer be re- 
strained from leaving the settlement. Gradually 



25OTH ANNIVERSARY. 69 

the first rude houses which constituted the first 
compact village gave way, and in their places here 
and there the plain was dotted with more sub- 
stantial farm-houses. All were farmers, and there 
was no villacre settlement asrain for more than a 
century.^ 

Great political changes also were now occurring 
in the Colony. The charter brought over by 
Winthrop, for the preservation of which Daniel 
Fisher had striven, was dissolved by a judgment in 
the English Court of Chancery. The colonies of 
Plymouth and Massachusetts were united in the 
Province under a royal Governor. The autonomy 
of the Puritans, so strictly maintained under the 
first Charter, received its first serious shock in the 
guaranties to Protestants of every name given by 
the Provincial Charter. Dedham was now entering 
upon a long period of great depression. The men 
who had succeeded to the management of affairs 
were by no means the equals of the founders in 
education or capacity for public affairs. In spite 
of the care the fathers had taken to educate their 
children, the wilderness had proved to be a rough 
training-school. Their youth had been spent in 
clearing and subduing the soil, in planting orchards, 
and in building roads and fences over a wide extent 
of territory. There was an indifference to the 
means of education. The town was indicted in 
1674, and again in 1691, for its neglect to support a 

^ Worthington's History, p. 15. 



70 THE TOWN OF DEDHAM. 

school. Mr. Dexter, in his Century Sermon of 1738, 
laments the " disesteem of learning too evident in a 
prevailing temper to be wholly without a grammar- 
school, and the negligence of the parents to send 
their children when they have one." He makes the 
significant assertion : " I think it is beyond dispute 
a rare thing to find among us men of common char- 
acter that can use a pen as many, many of our fa- 
thers could." ^ But this low state of education was 
perhaps due to circumstances which could not be 
controlled. The dispersion of the comjDact settle- 
ment caused the maintenance and attendance of 
a school to be attended with serious difficulties. 
Before 1730 there was but one church and but one 
schoolmaster, who was employed but a few weeks 
in one place. There were many hardships in the 
general condition of the people. They were all de- 
scendants of the first settlers. There were no new- 
comers, and a strong jealousy existed towards them, 
— a natural outcome of the policy of the founders. 
They saw little of other people, and there were 
but few marriages except among themselves. The 
road to Boston was rough and circuitous ; over it 
they carried the produce of their farms in panniers. 
They also carried to Boston oak-bark, hoop poles, 
oak and pine timber for building purposes, oak 
staves, ship timber, charcoal and wood for fuel to 
some extent.^ In this way they gained a subsist- 

1 Dexter's Century Sermon (1738). 
' Worthington's History, p. 39. 



250Tri ANNIVERSARY. 7 1 

ence for themselves and their families. As a nat- 
ural consequence from such a condition of society, 
they had warm controversies among themselves 
upon town and parish matters. But it must also 
be said that this hard school of self-denial and 
sacrifice did not efface from the character of this 
generation their strong religious faith and their 
firm attachment to the church and town. If their 
views of life were narrowed by circumstances, they 
were still jealous of their civil rights, and kept them- 
selves informed in public affairs. They had no 
Lusher, whose memory as a wise counsellor was 
long cherished, to direct their affairs ; yet they had 
good men in Samuel Guild, John Metcalf, and 
Joseph Wight, who filled long terms of office as 
Selectmen. 

Between 1671, when Mr. Allin died, and 1723, 
when Mr. Dexter came, there had been two minis- 
ters of the Dedham church, — Adams and Belcher. 
A new meeting-house had been built in 1673, and 
repaired in 1702. The South Parish was incorpo- 
rated in 1 730, and the West Parish in 1 736. In 1 748 
a fourth parish was incorporated under the name of 
Springfield, which is the present town of Dover. 
All persons were taxed for parochial purposes, and 
all were required to attend public worship under 
penalties. Under the Statute of 1727-28, however, 
persons attending divine service according to the 
Church of England might have their taxes paid 
to a minister of that church, if such service was 



*J2 V THE TOWN OF DEDHAM. 

performed within five miles of their residence. In 
1734 the ministerial taxes of six persons in Dedham 
were remitted because they carried on the worship 
of God in the wa}' of the Established Church of 
England. In 1731 Dr. Timothy Cutler, rector of 
Christ's Church, Boston, began the service of the 
English Church, and preached in a private house 
in the westerly part of the town. He sometimes 
had congregations of fifty persons, and there were 
eight or nine communicants. From this time until 
the Revolution, these services were held at irregular 
intervals in different places in the town ; and finally 
a church was built in Dedham village, and opened 
for service in 1761. Thus it will be seen, that, in 
about a century from the founding of the town, the 
English liturgy, the great rock of offence to the 
fathers, and so carefully excluded in the time of 
the Colony, was publicly used in Dedham under 
the protection of law, and accepted by some 
of the descendants of the settlers in the third 
generation. 

In the various military expeditions during the 
French wars, Dedham men were called to bear a 
part. In the West Indies, at Ticonderoga, Fort 
Edward, Fort William Henry, at the memorable 
siege of Louisburg, and at the Bay of Fundy they 
performed military service, and many never re- 
turned.^ Among the names of soldiers who served 
in these companies will be found those of old Ded- 

1 Haven's Centennial Address, Appendix, pp. 66, ^T. 



25OTH ANNIVERSARY. 73 

ham families. It must be remembered that at this 
period the military spirit was maintained in full 
vigor, and that all able-bodied men were trained in 
the manual of arms. In 1757 it has been estimated 
that one third of all the effective men of the Prov- 
ince were in the field in some form or other.^ In 
these French wars the men of Massachusetts became 
accustomed to actual service in arduous campaigns, 
and so acquired a knowledge of the art of war 
which well prepared them for the great conflict of 
the Revolution, twenty years later. 

While the eighteenth century prior to the Revo- 
lution was a period of depression, hardship, and 
sacrifice in Dedham, and, excepting the military 
expeditions of the French wars, was not fruitful of 
events, yet it was during this period that two of the 
most notable men in its history came here to make 
their residence, and at a time when they were much 
needed. These were Dr. Nathaniel Ames and Sam- 
uel Dexter, — men of pronounced character, and in 
different ways destined to exert a strong influence 
in succeeding times. 

Dr. Ames came from Bridgewater, when a young 
man, in 1732. He inherited from his father a love 
of the science of astronomy as it had then been 
developed, and in 1726, when less than sixteen 
years of age, had published his first almanac, on the 
titlepage of which he styled himself a " Student in 
Physic and Astronomy." He continued to publish 

^ Minot's History, vol. ii. p. 37. 



74 THE TOWN OF DEDHAM. 

these almanacs for forty years, and his son Nathaniel, 
for ten years more. Dr. Ames was a man of an 
acute and vigorous mind, and his almanacs abound 
in quaint verses and scientific essays.^ His first 
wife was Mary, the daughter of Joshua Fisher; but 
she died, leaving an infant son, Fisher, who also 
died in less than a year after his mother. It was 
from this infant son that Dr. Ames inherited his 
landed estate in Dedham. He then married Deb- 
orah, the daughter of Jeremiah Fisher, who was the 
mother of five children. At the decease of Dr. 
Ames, in 1 764, his two eldest sons, Nathaniel and 
Seth, had just been graduated at Harvard College, 
and Fisher, the youngest, was only six years of age. 
The younger children were left to the care of their 
mother, a woman of great energy and force of char- 
acter. Fisher Ames was fitted for college under 
the instructions of Mr. Haven, the minister of the 
church, and was graduated in 1774, at the age of 
sixteen. Such was the beginning of a family and a 
name in Dedham which afterwards became the most 
conspicuous and illustrious of any in its annals. 

Samuel Dexter was a son of the fourth minister 
of the Dedham church. He had been bred to 
business, and having acquired a fortune as a mer- 
chant in Boston, he returned to his native town to 
live in November, 1762. He soon built a fine 
mansion on land adjoining the parsonage, which 

1 An elaborate notice of these almanacs may be found in Tyler's 
" History of American Literature," vol. ii. pp. 122-130. 



25OTH ANNIVERSARY. 75 

is still standing, in admirable preservation ; and 
though it has been much improved, it has not 
been radically changed in form or arrangement. 
Mr. Dexter immediately assumed a leading place 
in the local affairs of Dedham. He gave liberally 
for the support of schools, and for the new meeting- 
house erected about the time of his coming. He 
was usually the moderator of town-meetings just 
previous to the Revolution, and the resolutions 
then adopted were drawn by his hand. He was 
for several years a Deputy to the General Court, 
and was several times negatived as a Councillor 
by the royal Governor. In the beginning of the 
Revolution he was for five years in the Provincial 
Congress, and a member of the Supreme Executive 
Council of State, which assisted and supported the 
military operations in the vicinity of Boston. 

The decade which preceded the first conflict of 
arms in the Revolution was one of intense excite- 
ment, deep anxiety, and popular indignation. These 
found expression in town-meetings and through 
committees of correspondence, and finally in prep- 
arations for actual war. In all this period the men 
of Dedham, true to the traditions of their fathers, 
were thoroughly aroused. They had suffered much 
from provincial taxes levied on account of the 
French wars, in which they had fought the battles 
of England ; but they were ready to make greater 
sacrifices in resisting those parliamentary measures 
especially contrived to reduce the free-spirited people 



76 THE TOWN OF DEDHAM. 

of Massachusetts to the condition of mere subjects 
to the Crown. The town raised its voice against 
the passage of the Stamp Act, and joined in the 
short-Hved joy over its repeal, of which event the 
Sons of Liberty have left a permanent memorial to 
this day.-^ It voted to discourage the use of foreign 
superfluities and to encourage domestic manufac- 
tures. It abjured the use of tea, and resolved to 
unite with other towns for the redress of grievances. 
In 1774 it resolved not to supply the British troops 
with any articles but provisions. In September of 
the same year the delegates from the Suffolk towns 
assembled here, and organized the convention which 
made the first declaration of armed resistance to 
Great Britain. The people opened a subscription 
for the distressed poor in Boston, " cruelly suffering 
in the common cause of America." But they did 
not entirely rely upon resolutions and declarations. 
In March, 1775, they raised a company of sixty min- 
ute men, to be drilled three days and a half in each 
week, to be ready to march on the shortest notice 
in case of an alarm, and to serve nine months. In 
all these stirring movements the town was acting in 
co-operation with the other country towns in the com- 
mon cause. Such was the preparation made by the 
men of Dedham for the conflict which they clearly 
foresaw was about to open. Knowing as we do 
the spirit that animated them, their complete readi- 
ness for any emergency, and informed by subsequent 

1 " The Pillar of Liberty." 



25OTH ANNIVERSARY. 77 

events, we may feel assured that if, on the morning 
of April 19, 1775, a detachment of British grenadiers 
had marched up the High Street of Dedham with 
a hostile purpose, the minute men of Dedham would 
have been found on yonder Common, to make their 
stand for the common cause of home-rule and self- 
government. But, as has been aptly said, the " lot 
of glory fell to Lexington." 

A little after nine o'clock in the morning, there 
came a horseman down the Needham road to bring 
the Lexington alarm. The minute men were ready 
for the expected summons, and knew just what to 
do. There are traditions still kept of the plough 
being left in the furrow and the cart upon the 
highway, and the drivers mounting their horses and 
galloping for their muskets and accoutrements. 
They did not wait for more than a platoon to as- 
semble before they started. Captain Joseph Guild, 
of the minute men, gagged some croaker who had 
said that the alarm was false. As the day wore on, 
the militia companies mustered under their respec- 
tive captains. The first company of the first parish, 
sixty-seven officers and men, was commanded by Cap- 
tain Aaron Fuller. A smaller company of seventeen 
men marched under Lieutenant George Gould. The 
company of the South Parish, under Captain William 
Bullard, had sixty officers and men ; and the com- 
pany of the West Parish, thirty-one officers and men, 
was under Captain William Ellis. The Fourth Parish 
company, under CajDtain Ebenezer Battle, marched 



78 THE TOWN OF DEDHAM. 

with sixty-seven officers and men. In all, including 
the minute men and the militia, three hundred 
men under arms must have marched from Dedham 
on that historic day. Nor were these all. The 
gray-haired veterans of the French wars, whose 
blood was stirred anew by the sights and sounds 
of war, resolved to follow their sons to the battle. 
Assembled on the Common before this meeting- 
house, they met Rev. Mr. Gordon, of Roxbury, who 
had just come to Dedham ; and he, from the steps 
of the eastern porch, offered a prayer, and then 
they also marched, under the lead of Hezekiah 
Fuller and Nathaniel Sumner. Well may we be- 
lieve, as we are told, that the town was left " almost 
literally without a male inhabitant below the age 
of seventy and above that of sixteen."^ Where 
our soldiers met the enemy is not precisely known, 
but probably in Cambridge. We only know that 
among the casualties of the day it is recorded that 
Elias Haven was killed, and Israel Everett wounded, 
and that these men belonged to different Dedham 
companies. While the glory of the eventful morn- 
ing justly belongs to Lexington and Concord, yet 
after noon, when the British began their retreat, 
the battle was maintained by men from all the 
surrounding towns ; and among these, the men of 
Dedham were at the front. Dr. Nathaniel Ames 
made this significant entry in his diary for that 
day, which seems to describe it with historic accu- 
* Haven's Centennial Address, p. 46. 



25OTH ANNIVERSARY. 79 

racy : " Grand battle from Concord to Charlestown. 
I went and dressed the wounded." 

This quiet hamlet now became the scene of war- 
like operations. Provincial cannon were brought 
here, and Ebenezer Brackett was chosen to guard 
them. Committees were appointed to procure guns 
and ammunition, and to establish a night watch. 
The old gun of King Philip's War was ordered to 
be swung. The town voted to raise one hundred 
and twenty men to be ready to march on an alarm. 
Samuel Dexter announced that he would give 
his services in attending the Provincial Congress. 
Troops from Rhode Island passed through. Our 
people heard the booming of the guns at Bunker's 
Hill and saw the smoke of Charlestown, but our 
soldiers had no part in the battle. They, however, 
formed a part of the force that invested Boston the 
succeedins: winter. After the evacuation, when the 
army was moving to New York, General Washing- 
ton spent a night here, and was entertained by 
Mr. Dexter. 

At the session of the General Court In November, 
1775, Dedham was made the shire town of Suffolk 
County. The reason of this act, as recited in its 
preamble, was that Boston was " a garrison of the 
ministerial army, and had become the receptacle of 
the enemies of America." The books and papers 
of the Registry of Deeds were removed here ; and 
although the act was repealed in 1776, yet at the 
same time a resolve directed that these should be 



8o THE TOWN OF DEDHAM. 

kept in Dedham during the unsettled state of public 
affairs, until the further order of the General Court. 

In May, 1776, the town held a meeting to know 
the minds of the people about coming into a state 
of independency. The subject was fully discussed 
and considered at several adjournments of the 
meeting; and finally, May 27, 1776, the inhabi- 
tants unanimously voted, " that if the Honorable 
Congress should declare the Colonies independent 
of Great Britain, they would solemnly engage to 
support it in that measure with their lives and 
fortunes." 

The whole story of how the town redeemed this 
pledge cannot be told here. The exact number 
of men raised for the service has never been 
stated, but the published list must fall short of 
the real number. Bounties were paid, committees 
of correspondence and safety were maintained, and 
a committee for the care of soldiers' families in 
distress was appointed. The demands for horses 
and beef were supplied. The fluctuation of the 
currency gave to everything a factitious price. The 
burden of taxation became very heavy as time went 
on. It has been estimated that the annual expenses 
of the war, met by taxation, assessed upon the in- 
habitants by the town and parishes, were eight 
thousand dollars, federal currency.^ When we con- 
sider that all this expense was maintained by a 
town of less than two thousand inhabitants, all 
1 Worthington's History, p. 69. 



25OTH ANNIVERSARY. 51 

farmers, having little or no means beyond what 
their farms yielded, we may gain some idea of the 
trials and sacrifices of the people during the eight 
long years of the Revolutionary War. Their en- 
durance did not fail, though the limit was nearly 
reached. Their indomitable spirit bore them up, 
and they maintained the common cause with great 
unanimity. They had the leadership of able men 
like Samuel Dexter in the beginning, who aided 
them by donations of money as well as by his 
personal influence. Mr. Haven, the minister, was 
an active leader; and Dr. Nathaniel Ames, the 
younger, was an ardent supporter of the popular 
cause. Fisher Ames was but seventeen years old 
in 1775, but he did some military service dur- 
ing the war. The town, therefore, made good 
its pledge, solemnly given at the beginning, to 
support independency. 

In the brief but serious insurrection led by 
Daniel Shays, which followed the Revolution, and 
which threatened the supremacy of law in Massa- 
chusetts, Dedham furnished a quota of forty-five 
men, showing that her people, though suffering 
from impoverishing taxes, were ready to suppress 
lawlessness under the guise of relief from oppres- 
sive laws. 

Between the close of the Revolution and 1790, 
no marked changes occurred in the affairs of the 
town ; but during the last decade of the eigh- 
teenth century, there began an era of improve 



82 THE TOWN OF DEDHAM. 

ments in Dedham village. It was about to shake 
off its rural aspect and to take on a more imposing 
appearance. Since the first little compact village 
of the settlers had disappeared, a century before, 
here and there, scattered over the plain, had stood 
the farm-houses. The meeting-house, the school- 
house, and the tavern made the only centre of 
Dedham life. The mansion of Dr. Sprague, pur- 
chased of Mr. Dexter, the parsonage of Mr. Haven, 
and the house of Dr. Nathaniel Ames the younger, 
were the only conspicuous houses in the village. 
Besides the minister, the two physicians, and per- 
haps the schoolmaster, all were farmers. The 
change was a gradual one, and proceeded from 
a variety of causes. 

In 1793 the County of Norfolk was incorpor- 
ated, formed by a division of Suffolk County. 
This project had long been agitated among the 
farmers of the country towns, and the subject of 
many resolutions. Dedham, in 1786, had declared, 
as a reason for the division of the county, " that 
if the courts of justice should be held in some 
country town within the county, we expect (at 
least for a while) that the wheels of justice would 
move on without the clogs and embarrassments 
of a numerous train of lawyers. The scenes of 
gayety and amusements which are now prevalent 
in Boston, we expect, would so allure them that 
we should be rid of their perplexing officiousness." 
Dedham, chiefly on account of its central position, 



25OTH ANNIVERSARY. 83 

was made the shire town of the new county, and 
this at once gave it a new importance. Despite 
the public deprecation of the " order of lawyers," 
two natives of Dedham, Samuel Haven and Fisher 
Ames, both lawyers, almost immediately opened 
their law offices here, and began to build their fine 
mansions. In 1796 Captain Edward Dowse, a 
retired merchant, and a liberal-spirited and chari- 
table gentleman, afterwards a member of Congress, 
came here, and soon erected another mansion on 
High Street. The spacious and imposing resi- 
dence, first known as the Lovell house, on the 
corner of Court and Highland Streets, was built 
soon after. All these houses are now standing, 
much enlarged and enriched by their subsequent 
owners. In 1795 about twenty acres of land in 
the heart of the village, which had been devised 
to the Episcopal Church by Samuel Colburn in 
1756, was divided and leased in village lots, and 
houses began to be built on them. Not many 
years after, the land of the First Church on the 
west side of Court Street was also leased. A new 
interest began to be manifested in public schools, 
and a new brick school-house was finished in 1800. 
A wooden court-house, fronting on the Meeting- 
house Common, was finished in 1795. The courts 
before had been held in the meeting-house, and 
they continued to be held there afterwards on 
special occasions. On the fourth day of April, 
1792, the stage-coach began to make its regular 



84 THE TOWN OF DEDHAM. 

trips of two hours from Dedham to Boston, for five 
days in the week.^ In 1797 the old Episcopal 
Church, opened in 1761, was removed and recon- 
structed. The town began to increase in popula- 
tion, and mechanics and tradesmen to come from 
elsewhere. 

In 1804 the turnpike from Boston to Providence 
was opened, which gave to Dedham the advantage 
of a direct and well-graded road to Boston. In 1797 
water was brought to the village by an aqueduct. 
A still more siQ:nificant mark of the new order of 
thinQ:s was the establishment of the Norfolk Cotton 
Factory in 1807. Its corporators were citizens of 
Dedham, and its water-power was furnished by the 
canal of the early settlers. This factory was a source 
of much pride to our citizens ; and though a dozen 
years later it met with financial disaster, it attracted 
to Dedham men of enterprise and skill, who subse- 
quently were among its most reliable citizens. In 
this way began the village of Dedham as we see it 
to-day ; and with the exception of a very few houses, 
none are now standing which were built earlier 
than 1795. 

All these things were the outward signs of social 
changes. In 1792 Fisher Ames wrote to Thomas 
Dwidit : " Dedham will never become more than a 
village, but it is growing up to be a smart one." 
And in the same letter he added : " Is there not 
a cold hard spot in the heart which is indifferent 

1 Nathaniel Ames's Diary. 



25OTH ANNIVERSARY. 85 

to the natale solum ? The growth of the place I 
live in concerns my profit and my pleasure, and 
it seems to me there is reason, if not philosophy, 
in my taking an interest in that event." These 
were noble words, and in the few years of life that 
remained for him he nobly endeavored to carry 
them into action. 

Having studied law with William Tudor in Boston, 
Fisher Ames was admitted to the bar in 1781. He 
had a small practice in Dedham for a few years, but 
employed his leisure in writing a series of articles 
for the " Independent Chronicle " upon questions 
then agitating the public mind growing out of 
Shays' Rebellion. The vigor of thought and style 
in these essays attracted attention, and they may be 
regarded as the beginning of his public career. He 
was a delesfate from Dedham in the Constitutional 
Convention of 1788, where he made his maiden 
speech in favor of biennial elections. He was 
elected to the Legislature from Dedham in the 
same 3^ear. In 1789 he took his seat in Congress, 
and served eight years, during Washington's ad- 
ministration. It is beyond the scope of this address 
to speak of his public life further than to say that 
in a period of a national history remarkable for 
its statesmen and political writers, no one produced 
a more profound impression than Fisher Ames. 
But as a private citizen living here on his native 
soil and identified with the interests of this town, 
something should be said to-day. After his marriage 



86 THE TOWN OF DEDHAM. 

and a brief residence in Boston, while he was still 
a member of Congress, Mr. Ames returned to Ded- 
ham to make his home upon the patrimonial estate. 
The old house where he was born was still standing, 
and it was not taken down until after his mother's 
death in 1817. He built a law office on the corner 
of what is now the Court-House Yard, on High 
and Court streets, which he occupied until his death 
in 1808. He immediately entered upon local enter- 
prises with great earnestness. He took pride and 
satisfaction in his farm. He makes frequent allu- 
sions in his letters to his large stock of cattle, to the 
productiveness of his cows, to his breed of sheep, to 
his desire to get the best seeds, and to his belief that 
his farm is approaching the period when it would 
be profitable ; adding, " if he did not think it would 
be, it would not be an amusement, it would be a 
mere piece of ostentation on any other prospect, 
an expensive folly, a toilsome disappointment." But 
Mr. Ames was; specially active in plans for the im- 
provement of the appearance of the village. He 
engaged in the fierce debates of a Dedham town- 
meeting to urge that the roads be repaired by con- 
tract, instead of by the old plan of working out the 
highway taxes, and that the district school should be 
kept for a longer time. He was interested in the 
drainage of the Charles River meadows; in the estab- 
lishment of a manufactory ; in the founding of a li- 
brary and an academy; in the building of a new town- 
house, and the safe-keeping of the records ; in a new 



25OTH ANNIVERSARY. 87 

meeting-house, and in making a public square in the 
centre of the village. He was the first president of 
the turnpike corporation, and personally supervised 
the building of the road. He was hospitable, and 
gave parties, and strove to cultivate social relations 
with his neighbors. During all this time Mr. Ames's 
health was extremely precarious, and he was occu- 
pied more or less in the trial of causes. In all these 
ways, animated by the highest and most disinterested 
motives, he strove to elevate and improve the condi- 
tion of affairs around him. He was doubtless far in 
advance of his' time, and many of his plans were little 
heeded. He encountered a strong opposition from 
the sturdy farmers in the parishes who did not favor 
any project for the improvement of the village. 
Beyond the remaining elms on High Street, there 
are no existing memorials of the enlightened public 
spirit of Fisher Ames. His efforts, however, are 
not to be estimated by the degree of success which 
attended them, but rather by the spirit that inspired 
them ; and they should always meet with a grateful 
recognition whenever our local history is told. 

The period beginning with the present century 
and endino; with the War of 181 2 was characterized 
by an intense political feeling. Probably never was 
partisan controversy so bitter, or carried so far into 
the relations of social life. It was then that the 
name of Federalist became so offensive to the pop- 
ular party as to be handed down in history with 
unpleasant associations, while the Republicans were 



88 THE TOWN OF DEDHAM. 

denounced as " Jacobins " by their political adver- 
saries. These political animosities had full play in 
Dedham. Dedham supported the administrations 
of Jefferson and Madison, and the War of 1812. 
Soldiers for the army were recruited and drilled 
here, and the Dedham Light Infantry performed 
service at South Boston. In August, 181 2, a con- 
vention of five hundred delegates assembled here to 
express their approbation of the war. Fisher Ames 
was a Federalist. Doubtless much of the opposi- 
tion to his plans for the improvement of the village 
was due to politics. Between him and his eldest 
brother. Dr. Nathaniel Ames, who was a Repub- 
lican, there were many sharp political conflicts, as 
there are apt to be between strong men of the same 
blood. 

The administration of James Monroe was charac- 
terized as the "era of good feeling," in contradis- 
tinction to the intense bitterness of political strife 
during the administrations of Jefferson and Mad- 
ison. This was illustrated in Dedham upon the 
occasion of the visit of President Monroe. On the 
first day of July, 181 7, there was a great military 
parade here to receive him. The first division of 
the Massachusetts militia was ordered out, includ- 
ing the cavalry and artillery as well as infantry, and 
mustered at Dedham. The President was escorted 
by a detachment of cavalry from the southerly line 
of the county in Wrentham. Upon his arrival at 
Dedham, near sunset, he reviewed the troops on the 



25OTH ANNIVERSARY. 89 

Great Common. He then retired to the hospitable 
mansion of Mr. Dowse, where he was entertained 
for the night. In the morning he walked through 
throngs of people to Polley's Tavern, where he re- 
ceived the salutations of the citizens, and "shook 
hands until near exhausted with the tedious cere- 
mony." ^ General Crane finally requested the mul- 
titude to pay their respects by simply bowing and 
passing on. Then, escorted by the cavalry and 
carriages, the President went on his journey to 
Boston. Such was the manner of receiving a Re- 
publican President in Dedham in 1817. 

The most memorable event in the history of the 
town was the division of the church, which occurred 
in 18 18. In these days when theological dogmas 
have so relaxed their hold even upon religious men, 
it is difficult to put ourselves into a position to 
understand the full meaning of this event to the 
men and women of the First Parish nearly seventy 
years ago. The church and the parish then in- 
cluded nearly all the people of the village, and all 
were required by law to attend public worship. 
The church was supported by general taxation, and 
it was bound by inseparable ties to the civil admin- 
istration of the town. To the church-members the 
church was an object of unspeakable solicitude, and 
the subject of constant prayers. It was the ark of 
the covenant placed here by the fathers. The time 
has now come when we may speak of the division 

^ Nathaniel Ames's Diary. 



go THE TOWN OF DEDHAM. 

as an important fact of history, though there was 
a time when our people alluded to it with bated 
breath, and it was not deemed to be a proper sub- 
ject for public discussion. It was the result of no 
common local quarrel over a question of transient 
importance. Briefly stated, the issue was made 
upon the right of a territorial parish to elect a 
relisfious teacher without the concurrence of the 
church connected with it. The usage of the Puri- 
tan churches had always required such a concur- 
rence. But in the Constitutional Convention of 
1780, without much serious discussion, there had 
been inserted in the Bill of Rights a provision 
which gave to towns and parishes the exclusive 
right to choose their public teacher. The First 
Parish of Dedham in 1818 elected a "public teacher 
of morality and religion," but in this election a 
majority of the church refused to concur. Upon 
the ordination of the teacher-elect, a majority of 
the church with the deacons, and a minority of 
the parish, withdrew and formed a separate reli- 
gious body. Then the right to the property and 
records of the church became the subject of a suit 
at law, and the court held that under the provision 
of the Bill of Rights, made in 1780, the parish 
might elect a teacher with or without the consent 
of the church, and without regard to ecclesiastical 
usage; that a church could have no legal existence 
apart from the parish, and that those members of 
the church who remained with the First Parish 



25OTII ANNIVERSARY. 9 1 

of Dedham were entitled to the property of the 
church. Such were the legal questions involved 
in this celebrated case. But the real underlying 
causes of the controversy must be sought for in 
the theological history of that time. It must be 
ascribed to the powerful reaction from the dogmas 
of Calvinism, which may be traced back for many 
years before, and which culminated in 1816 with a 
great religious upheaval that rent asunder the par- 
ish churches in half the towns of eastern Massa- 
chusetts. The decision of the Dedham case was 
the most far-reaching in its results perhaps of any 
decision of our courts; for under it the church 
property in a majority of those towns passed into 
the exclusive control of the parishes, while the 
church members who adhered to the Orthodox 
Puritan faith were relegated to the position of dis- 
senters from the established parish churches. This 
was an ecclesiastical revolution which the union of 
churches and territorial parishes could not with- 
stand; and in 1834 the parochial system of the 
Puritans, which had been so carefully framed and 
steadily maintained for two hundred years, by an 
amendment to the Bill of Rights, was dissolved 
forever. 

It is a privilege to be able to add a peaceful 
sequel to this story of strife and division here in 
Dedham. Since 1819, in separate churches and 
congregations and confessing different rules of faith, 
the descendants and successors of the Puritan found- 



92 THE TOWN OF DEDHAM. 

ers have worshipped here. Though widely sepa- 
rated by differences of administration, they have 
worshipped so near each other that sometimes the 
passer-by might hear the songs of praise borne on 
the same harmonies going up together from both 
congregations. The venerated pastors, who were 
both ordained in the hour of great tribulation, for 
forty years afterwards led the devotions of their 
hearers. They were both representative men of 
their diverse schools of theology, but they both bore 
themselves with a dignity becoming their sacred 
office, and both labored for peace. If there were 
heart-burnings and some bitterness in the beginning, 
these found no encouragement from the pulpits. 
There was a calm on the surface of the troubled 
waters, though there might have been whirlpools 
and eddies below ; and long before the faithful pas- 
tors were borne to their final rest, through no diplo- 
macy but the silent force of their example, a treaty 
of amity had been concluded which has been well 
kept and, as we trust, is never to be broken. 

In 1830 the population of the town was upwards 
of three thousand. There had been a slow but 
steady advance in population and prosperity. The 
formation of a bank, an insurance company, and an 
institution for savings, were further evidence of its 
growth. The manufacture of woollen sfoods at the 
mills had been put upon a firm basis by the capital 
and capacity of Benjamin Bussey and his efficient 
agent, Thomas Barrows. Two cotton-mills had 



25OTH ANNIVERSARY. 93 

been built, and they were operated by Frederick 
A. Taft and Ezra W. Taft, skilful and experienced 
manufacturers. In the South Parish, George Wins- 
low, Willard Everett, Lyman Smith, and Joseph 
Day had begun those enterprises which afterwards 
transformed that farming neighborhood into a pros- 
perous village. In Dedham village there was a silk- 
factory and shops for making stage-coaches. The 
Citizens' Stage Company, owning three hundred 
horses, with coaches and equipments, had its head- 
quarters here. This line ran from Boston to Provi- 
dence, leaving Boston at five o'clock in the morning, 
and connecting at Providence with the New York 
steamer at half-past eleven. Subsequently the time 
was reduced one hour. It has been stated that ex- 
press riders once carried a message of President 
Jackson from Providence to Boston in two hours 
and forty-five minutes. Sometimes a procession of 
twelve coaches filled with passengers, heralded by 
the horn, would draw up here for breakfast or a re- 
lay of horses. At the sessions of the courts the 
county lawyers brought their satchels with their 
papers, and tarried at the taverns until their cases 
were disposed of. Sometimes a leader of the Suf- 
folk bar would appear, to electrify the jury and the 
spectators. In the winter, balls and sleighing-parties 
made the two taverns centres of life and gayety. In 
the summer, families from Boston found Dedham a 
pleasant place of sojourn. Mrs. Kemble and Mrs. 
Hawthorne in their published diaries give us some 



94 THE TOWN OF DEDHAM. 

glimpses of Dedham life at this period. Books and 
pamphlets were printed here. There was a young 
men's lyceum, which produced original plays. Each 
political party had a county newspaper. Of the 
dreaded order of lawyers there were not less than 
five in practice. Theron Metcalf, who came in 1809, 
delivered law lectures to students in 1828. Horace 
Mann began his brief professional career in 1826. 
In the same year Lafayette was received here at 
nearly midnight by a concourse of people who had 
waited all day to see him, amid the ringing of bells, 
the firing of a salute, and an illumination of the 
houses. In 1833 President Jackson with his cabinet 
rode through long lines of men, who received him 
with uncovered heads, as he made his journey to- 
wards Boston. Such was Dedham village in 1834. 
The prediction made by Fisher Ames forty years 
before had been fulfilled. It had grown to be " a 
smart village." 

Fifty years ago to-day the town observed its two 
hundredth anniversary. It was entered into with 
spirit, and was a memorable occasion. The town 
had then attained the height of its local importance, 
and the arrangements made were quite imposing. 
The Governor of the Commonwealth, Edward 
Everett, and his brother, Alexander H. Everett, 
both descendants of Richard Everard, were present. 
The felicitous speech of the Governor added much 
to the impressiveness of the occasion. A senti- 
ment to the memory of Rev. Samuel Dexter was 



25OTH ANNIVERSARY. 95 

Spoken to by Franklin Dexter, his great-grandson, 
an eminent lawyer. There were also present a few 
surviving soldiers of the Revolution ; and among 
these the venerable Ebenezer Fisher, then in his 
eighty-sixth year, who had filled high political ofifices, 
and who was the great-grandson of Daniel Fisher, 
— the same who had the affair with Sir Edmund 
Andros in 1689. The orator of the day, Mr. Haven, 
was a son of Dedham, and the lineal descendant of 
two ministers of the Dedham church, — Dexter and 
Haven. He was then a critical student of Massa- 
chusetts history, and afterwards during a long life 
he held a position which enabled him to attain a 
wide reputation as an historical scholar. His cen- 
tennial address was a learned, concise, and accurate 
survey of our history. Thus was the memory of Ded- 
ham men of nearly every generation honored here by 
their distinguished descendants fifty years ago. 

Two notable church anniversaries also occurred 
in the bi-centennial year of the town. By a some- 
what remarkable coincidence, on the tenth day of 
January the Third Parish completed the first cen- 
tury of its corporate existence, and on the twenty- 
third day of June the church of the Second Parish 
had been formed for a century.^ Both of these oc- 
casions were appropriately observed by historical 
discourses from the pastors, which were printed.^ 

* No allowance is made here for the difference between old and 
new style. 

2 Centennial Discourse, by Rev. John White, Jan. 17, 1836. Cen- 
tennial Discourse, by Rev. Calvin Durfee, June 26, 1836. 



96 THE TOWN OF DEDHAM. 

They were prepared with great care and fidelity, 
and were complete and succinct histories of the 
churches in those parishes. The two hundredth 
anniversary of the church of the First Parish came 
two years later, Nov. 18, 1838, making allowance 
for difference of style. For this occasion Rev. Dr. 
Lamson prepared and delivered three historical dis- 
courses, which embodied a full and comprehensive 
history of the church down to his own time. These 
were afterwards printed with copious notes, in 
which were collected many historical facts from 
original sources by the patient investigation of the 
learned pastor. These sermons have an especial 
value, since they cover a period of two hundred 
years, when the history of the town was so largely 
merged in the history of the church. Rev. Dr. 
Bureess also delivered a concise and accurate his- 
torical discourse upon the history of the church, 
which he afterwards printed in a unique volume, 
containing a sermon of every minister of the church 
to his own time, collected with much difficult}^ that 
they might serve as a memorial of the event for the 
generation living at the end of the third century. 
Certainly on this anniversary we must all recognize 
the pious reverence for the memory of the fathers, 
which prompted all the pastors of the Puritan 
churches of the town thus to perpetuate its ecclesi- 
astical history in discourses which together form 
the best memorials we have of the close of the 
second century. 



25OTH ANNIVERSARY. 97 

The opening of the railroad in 1834 was the 
prelude to another period of change in Dedham 
village. The people made contributions of lands 
and mone}'' to build the branch to Readville. They 
thought it would be like a turnpike over which 
any line of coaches might run upon the payment 
of tolls. They were pleased with its novelty, but 
failed to comprehend its great possibilities. For 
a time a two-horse compartment car was drawn to 
Boston. Then a connection was made with the 
Providence trains, but it was some time before a 
locomotive drew a train of cars from Dedham to 
Boston. The stage-coaches for a time competed 
with the railroad, and as late as 1S41 an omnibus 
was driven regularly from Dedham to Boston. But 
the day for stage-coaches was soon over, and with 
them went out the busy shops and the old-time 
tavern life. Nothing ever took their places. But 
the railroad doubtless led to the removal from Bos- 
ton to Dedham of some valued citizens. In 1839 
the Dowse estate came into the hands of Edmund 
Quincy, known to the world as an accomplished 
author, and to us who knew him here as an ideal 
gentleman. The Riverdale estate about the same 
time was purchased by Thomas Motley, Sr., and 
here his son the historian dwelt for a time. The 
fine houses on East Street were built soon after, 
and occupied by gentlemen who became honored 
citizens of the town. While the local industries 
had declined, the town still maintained its position 



98 THE TOWN OF DEDHAM. 

as a centre for the interests of the county. The 
great political procession of July 4, 1840, estimated 
to include seventy-five hundred persons, was a no- 
table event among the boys of that day. In the 
days of the anti-slavery agitation, all its leaders 
whose names have become historical were accus- 
tomed to attend their annual county conventions 
here, and there were some excited sessions in the 
old Town House. In 1849 the Norfolk Agricul- 
tural Society, organized and directed by its efficient 
president, Marshall P. Wilder, held its first exhibi- 
tion, at which Daniel Webster and a rare company 
of distinguished men made addresses. The exhi- 
bitions of this society for many years were great 
events, and are among the pleasantest memories of 
thirty years ago. 

In the autumn of 1848, during the presidential 
campaign, there was a political meeting which de- 
serves to be commemorated. It was held by the 
friends of General Taylor in the old hall now stand- 
ing on Court Street It was an ordinary political 
meeting, but held in the afternoon and during the 
session of the court. The hall was but half filled. 
The speaker was a Western member of Congress, 
who had come to Boston to make campaign 
speeches. Probably few of his audience had ever 
heard his name. He spoke but a half-hour, as he 
was obliged to take the train. He was a tall, gaunt 
man, whose free manner and careless disposition of 
attire bespoke the Western stump-speaker. His 



250Tri ANNIVERSARY. 99 

speech was enlivened by a peculiar humor, and it 
went directly home to the understanding and appre- 
ciation of his audience. Probably all recollection 
of the speech and the speaker soon faded from the 
memory of many of his hearers. But there was 
one of them^ who in after years loved to recall the 
fact that the plain man whom he heard that day 
was a man who will be remembered while Ameri- 
can liberty shall last. It was Abraham Lincoln of 
Illinois. 

In the spring of 1861 Dedham was enjoying a 
good degree of prosperity, partly from local indus- 
tries and partly from being the residence of business 
men from Boston. No event had occurred during 
the preceding decade to disturb its harmony, and 
the outlook ahead disclosed no reason for apprehen- 
sion. There had been no military company here 
since 1842. Few of our young men had been 
drilled in the manual of arms, or knew anything of 
military tactics. They were looking forward to a 
peaceful career in their respective callings. Even 
the pmsz-mi\it3.ry organizations of the presiden- 
tial campaign in the preceding autumn had not in- 
spired in them any thought or desire of becoming 
real soldiers. For a number of years the military 

1 Hon. George H. Monroe, of Roxbury, a native of Dedham and 
a resident here in 1848. He escorted Mr. Lincoln to Dedham, and 
gave an interesting narrative of his visit and speech in the " Boston 
Herald," April 22, 1885. Mr. Lincoln was entertained during his 
brief stay in the mansion of Freeman Fisher, now the residence of 
John R. Bullard. 



lOO THE TOWN OF DEDHAM. 

spirit had to some extent been under the ban of 
public sentiment in Massachusetts. Many good 
people indulged the belief that wars had ceased 
to be necessary for the arbitrament of difficulties. 
The coming shadows of a possible conflict after the 
presidential election did not arouse them from the 
dream of peace. Even when the clouds began to 
thicken, and the sky to grow dark, and the rumbling 
of the distant thunder to be heard, they did not real- 
ize that the tempest was at hand. It was only when 
the bolt of war fell that they were startled into 
action ; but then they sprang to their feet, ready to 
do battle for Union and Liberty. 

It was my great privilege eighteen years ago 
this month, on a public occasion,^ while yet the 
memories of the war were fresh, though the mate- 
rials of authentic history were meagre, to give an 
historical account of what Dedham and Dedham 
men did in the Civil War. It was such a story as 
might be told in many a Massachusetts town, but 
it had a peculiar pathos and interest for us. Year 
by year, ever since, the comrades of the Grand 
Army have called us to refresh our memories over 
the grave of the soldier. We need not linger over 
them to-day. The events of those years were too 
deeply impressed upon all who in any way par- 
ticipated in them to be soon forgotten. 

But it would be an unpardonable omission not 
to say of old Dedham, on her two hundred and 

1 Dedication of iMemorial Hall, Sept. 29, 1868. 



250Tn ANNIVERSARY. lOl 

fiftieth anniversary, that in the Civil War she was 
thoroughly, nobly true to her traditions. In una- 
nimity of action, without regard to political affilia- 
tions ; in the alacrity and steadfastness of her sup- 
port to the National Government in every call for 
men ; in the tenderness- and interest with which she 
followed her soldiers to the field and cared for their 
families at home ; in the readiness of her citizens 
to make any required contributions of money, — 
and, above all, in the precious sacrifice of her sons 
on a score of battle-fields, she paid the full tribute 
of patriotism, " in good measure, pressed down and 
shaken together and running over." She was as 
faithful and true in 1861 to 1865, as in 1675 and 
1775. The centuries had not abated her spirit, 
though they had changed her habits and opinions. 
When the day of trial came, she was the same town 
still. 

We have already reached the boundary-line be- 
tween the domain of history and the memory of 
the present generation. Perhaps the greatest social 
revolution in the history of the American people 
beo-an with the close of the Civil War. But no 
man living can now foresee its issue, or rightly 
estimate the true proportions of its events. As 
the soldier amidst the din and smoke of battle 
knows little or nothing of the grand movements 
in which he is bearing a part, so we cannot un- 
derstand the real meaning of what transpires in 
our own time. The accomplished historical scholar 



I02 THE TOWN OF DEDHAM. 

who stood In this place fifty years ago, closed his 
retrospect of the history of Dedham with the War 
of the Revolution, and so we will close ours with 
the War of the Rebellion. 

Surely we cannot leave the contemplation of this 
honorable and Inspiring history without being in 
some measure touched with a sense that we who 
have succeeded to the heritage have a weight of 
obligation resting upon us. We have seen to- 
day, in the light of authentic history, how, in the 
two hundred and fifty years since civilization and 
Christianity were first planted here, one period has 
been evolved from another; and though great 
changes have been wrought in habits, opinions, 
and S3^stems, yet, after all, as a community, we 
bear the family likeness. The most striking im- 
pression one gets from a close study of the history 
of any old Massachusetts town Is of the wonder- 
ful stability of its people. If we sometimes com- 
placently reflect, in the pride of our material 
prosperity, that the early days were days of small 
things, we have seen that they really were days 
of great achievement. If we regard ourselves as 
more tolerant In our forms of religious faith, let 
us never forget that the Puritan fathers believed 
what they professed, and practised what they be- 
lieved. If we think ourselves emancipated from 
the restraints of their narrow and provincial views 
of life, still we must acknowledge that they knew, 



25OTH ANNIVERSARY. IO3 

better than we, how to lay strong and deep the 
foundations of civil society. But let us forbear to 
draw parallels to our own advantage. Let us rather 
prove our fidelity to the sacred trust committed to 
our hands, by striving to see how far we can excel 
the fathers in public spirit, in devotion to the 
common interests of society, and, if need be, in 
heroic self-sacrifice in the day of trial. As we 
step forward to-morrow into another half-century 
of our history, we can find no better formula to 
embody our best aspirations than those simple 
words, written for all time, that Edward Alleyn 
put into the Town Covenant two hundred and fifty 
years ago, and to which the townsmen of the first 
century subscribed. 

Let us " become freely subject to all such orders 
and constitutions as shall be necessarily had or 
made, now or at any time hereafter, from this day 
forward, as well for loving and comfortable society 
in our said town, as also for the prosperous and 
thriving condition of our said fellowship, especially 
respecting the fear of God, in which we desire to 
begin and continue whatever we shall by His loving 
favor take in hand." 



I04 THE TOWN OF DEDHAM. 

VII. 

FORTY-FOURTH PSALM. 

(Bay Psalm Book, 1650.) 

Tune — " St. Martin's." 
( The audience are requested to rise and join in the singing.) 

We, with our ears have heard, O God, 

Our fathers have us told, 
What works Thou wroughtest in their days 

Ev'n in ye days of old. 

How Thy hand drave ye heathen out, 

Displanted them Thou hast ; 
How Thou ye people did'st afflict, 

And out them Thou did'st cast. 

For by their sword they did not get 

The land's possession. 
Nor was it their own arm that did 

Work their salvation. 

But Thy right hand. Thine arm also, 

Thy countenance of light ; 
Because that of Thine own good will 

Thou did'st in them delight. 



VIII. 

BENEDICTION. 

By Rev. Seth C. Beach. 

Rev. Arthur M. Backus, to whom this part had been assigned, was 
detained by illness. 



THE DINNER. 



THE DINNER. 



A T the conclusion of the exercises in the church 
the procession re-formed and marched to the 
large tent on Richards Field, which was filled with 
eleven hundred ladies and gentlemen. Upon the 
platform were seated the presiding officer, Hon. 
Frederick D. Ely, Gov. George D. Robinson, 
Mayor O'Brien, President Dwight, Hon. John D. 
Long, Dr. George E. Ellis, Dr. William Everett, 
Lieut.-Gov. Ames, Hon. George White, Hon. A. 
W. Beard, Hon. R. R. Bishop, Ex-Governor Fair- 
banks, of Vermont, Hon. J. O. A. Brackett, Hon. 
George W. Wiggin, and many others. 

After the company was seated, the President 
rose and said : — 

Ladies and Gentlemen, — At the dinner given in 
honor of the two hundredth anniversary of the in- 
corporation of this town in 1836, Rev. John White, 
then a settled minister at West Dedham, Invoked 
the divine blessing. I now invite you to join with 
his successor, Rev. George W. Cooke, in invoking 
the divine blessing on this occasion. 



I08 THE TOWN OF DEDHAM. 



THE INVOCATION. 



Our Father's God, we invoke Thy blessing on this 
occasion. Bless us as Thou hast blest our fathers, with 
high thoughts and pure motives and noble purposes. 
Bless, our Father, in the future, this town, as Thou dost 
bless it on this occasion. We thank Thee for these 
blessings Thou hast given us; help us to be worthy of 
those Thou wilt give to us in the future. Amen. 

After an hour spent at dinner, the President 
addressed the audience as follows : — 

ADDRESS OF HON. FREDERICK D. ELY. 

Ladies and Gentlemen, — By the courtesy of the 
Committee who have this celebration in charge, it becomes 
my delightful privilege to speak the word of welcome on 
this occasion. To the Honorable Representative of the 
National Administration ; to His Excellency the Governor, 
and His Honor the Lieutenant-Governor of the Common- 
wealth ; to His Honor the Mayor of the city of Boston ; 
to the President of the Massachusetts Historical Society; 
to the distinguished principals and teachers of institutions 
of learning; to the respected officers and citizens of this 
county and of neighboring cities and towns ; and especially 
and supremely to the sons and daughters of Dedham 
who to-day return to the old homestead from their chosen 
abodes in other parts of the country, — I tender, in the 
name of our town, a cordial and hearty greeting. We 
appreciate the honor of your presence ; we shall treasure 
the words of wisdom and good cheer that you will speak ; 
we trust that you will carry away with you favorable 
impressions of our ancient but vigorous municipality; 



1 



25OTH ANNIVERSARY. IO9 

and when this day shall be numbered with the days that 
are past, may its recollections inspire us all with a more 
deep and lasting appreciation of the character and strug- 
gles of those plain but thoughtful men who two hundred 
and fifty years ago cut a pathway through the forest, and 
first planted the seeds of civil government on the spot 
where we now stand. 

Frequent as celebrations similar in character to the 
present have been in recent years, they have never failed 
to awaken a lively interest in the minds and hearts of 
the people. Their novelty has indeed disappeared, but 
their significance remains undiminished and unobscured. 
The lapse of time consigns the ordinary transactions of 
human life to the realm of oblivion ; it brings into clear 
perspective the great achievements of valor, of endurance, 
of masterly common-sense. The former are buried out 
of sight by the ever-busy processes of Nature ; the latter 
stand out more and more in insulated grandeur, and 
become memorial columns in the majestic progress of 
human society. To them the people look back as plen- 
teous sources of present prosperity and happiness, and at 
stated periods imprint them on the memory of succeed- 
ing generations by fitting and appropriate ceremonies. 

Perhaps few events in the public life of the American 
people are more worthy of commemoration than the 
founding of a New England municipality. In our com- 
plex system of government the town is the unit which 
lies at the foundation of the entire fabric. In theory 
indeed it is the creature of the State; practically it is 
the safeguard and support of the sovereignty to which it 
owes allegiance. United by proximity of residence, asso- 
ciated in the school, the church, and the town-meeting, 
the inhabitants of a town readily and eff"ectively meet any 
emergency to which the State may be exposed. In peace, 
these pure democracies furnish to the Commonwealth its 



no THE TOWN OF DEDHAM. 

revenues; and when war comes, its revenues and fighting 
men. It is the achievements of men leagued by the ties 
of town associations and town government which have 
enkindled the pride of our beloved Commonwealth, and 
crowned her name with glory and honor. It was the men 
of Lexington who with heroic and fervid patriotism stood 
on the village green, and received the fire of the British 
soldiery. It was the minute men of Concord and Lincoln 
and Acton who 

" Fired the shot heard round the world." 

It was the men of Dedham who swiftly responded to the 
cry of alarm, " in such numbers," says Bancroft, " that 
scarce one male between sixteen and seventy was left at 
home." 

This admirable frame of local administration is only one 
of many conspicuous monuments of the wisdom and pru- 
dence of the colonists of New England. Scarcely was 

" A clearing cut 
From the walled shadows round it shut," 

when the meeting-house and the school-house arose at the 
side of the humble dwelling of the settler. From these 
rude, unpretentious buildings piety and education went 
forth hand in hand to Christianize and civilize the land. 
Beneath their benign influence an active, brave, resolute, 
intelligent, and moral population, imbued with independ- 
ence and enterprise, sprang up, subdued the wilderness, 
wrung bountiful harvests from the stubborn soil, and laid 
deep and sure the foundations of a State whose abundant 
and abounding blessings it is our happy privilege to enjoy. 
Two hundred and fifty years ago, on the banks of yon- 
der river bordered by meadows of waving grasses and 
fragrant flowers, the founders of Dedham planted these 
beneficent institutions. Their deeds of valor, of wisdom, 



25OTH ANNIVERSARY. Ill 

of prudence, of enterprise, of devotion to liberty have this 
day been recounted by more eloquent lips than mine. 
Around you on every hand behold their monuments. 
They breathe in the rippled waters of the Charles, flowing 
through strange channels to unaccustomed labors; they 
live, not in obelisk or pyramid, but in vast cathedrals of 
industry, whose busy shuttles, singing songs of praise and 
rejoicing as they fly, bear plenty and comfort and con- 
tentment to hundreds of peaceful homes ; they greet the 
eye in time-worn memorials of a sagacious, discrimina- 
tive, but fearless patriotism; "they stand immutable and 
immortal in the social, moral, and intellectual condition 
of their descendants ; they exist in the spirit which their 
precepts instilled and their example implanted." 

The President: Fellow-citizens, although the 
honorable gentleman who was to respond to the 
first toast (the Hon. John E. Fitzgerald) is ab- 
sent, I will read it to you : — 

The President of the United States ! Vested with the executive 
power of a nation of sixty millions of people, occupying a domain 
continental in extent, who can measure his responsibilities or weigh 
in a balance the burden of cares and anxieties inseparable from 
his supreme office ? May he be blessed with wisdom, with strength, 
with courage, and with abundant success ! 

Having paid our respects to the President of the 
United States, it is our next duty, as well as the next 
impulse of our hearts, to pay our respects to the 
Governor of the Commonwealth, both ofiRcially and 
personally. I will read a toast to which I will in- 
vite him to respond : — 



112 THE TOWN OF DEDHAM. 

" The Commonwealth of Massachusetts ! The protection, safety, 
prosperity, and happiness of her people have been conserved and 
promoted by a long line of wise, devoted, and far-seeing supreme 
executive magistrates." 

Ladies and gentlemen, I have the very high 
honor of introducing to you the Hon. George D. 
Robinson, Governor of the Commonwealth of 
Massachusetts. 

ADDRESS OF GOVERNOR ROBINSON. 

Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen, — When, 
after many years of wandering, the traveller turns his 
steps homeward and traces back the familiar paths to 
the old homestead that rests on the hills that were so 
well known to him in his boyhood, he stops by the way- 
side as he nears the dear old place, and drinks again at 
the spring that delighted his youth and slaked his thirst, 
and finds there the water sweeter and brighter and 
fresher than all the land elsewhere brings forth ; and be- 
neath the grateful shade of the old trees that he loved so 
well he sits, and drops the tear and breathes the sigh for 
the past. All through him run the warmth of recollec- 
tion and the deepness of inspiration that thrill him again 
with the scenes and delights of his early life. Coming 
back here to-day, travelling down over a quarter of a 
thousand years, we sit again at the origin of this settle- 
ment, at the beginning of its power; and though we 
drew not the natural breath at the beginning of its ex- 
istence, we shall find, and do find, in its history and 
growth abundance of thought and recollection that 
strengthen and encourage and cheer. 

All over this land that is now occupied by your busy 
people, where on every hand, not in name as was hoped 



25OTH ANNIVERSARY. II3 

for as of yore, but in reality " contentment " is found; 
here where these streets are now formed from the once 
untrodden plain, by the river that yet as then flows on to 
the sea, — we find these associations attaching us to the 
past that is abundantly dear. And so too, when all Na- 
ture smiles bountifully, when never was it brighter before 
than it is to-day, when we have an abundant harvest ready 
to enrich the husbandman, and over the head of it all 
Nature's resplendent glories to be enjoyed freely by every 
person, — in the midst of this wealth of experience we 
come back here to revive the past, and to renew our 
devotion to the associations of the great men and women 
that made that past and rendered their future and our 
present possible. Taking it altogether, it seems as if the 
poet wrote of this time when he said : — 

" It is a bright September morn, 
Tlie earth is beautiful, as if new born ; 
There is that nameless splendor everywhere, 
That wild exhilaration in the air, 
That makes the passers in the busy street 
Congratulate each other as they meet." 

How true it is of what has been seen by every one to- 
day in the associations of this happy occasion. And yet 
the change strikes us with wonderful power. Then, the 
sounds of the forest, — it might be the threatening of 
the hostile savage; now, the abundant harmonies of 
peace, and, instead of the war-whoop, the cheerful strains 
of hundreds of children standing before the sanctuary of 
God, and chanting the national anthem of free America. 
And all this comes to us not through any dim tradi- 
tion ; fortunately the youth of the present time find their 
early history written out of well authenticated records, if 
not perpetuated even in the testimony of the living. 

The admirable address we listened to this morning, 
abounding in fact and rich in suggestion, comes down to 



114 THE TOWN OF DEDHAM. 

US with the testimony of very truth, stripped of all doubt 
and uncertainty, and presented before us as the fact of 
life ; and we never tire in this Commonwealth of this 
old, old story of the beginning of our towns. How grati- 
fying, indeed, it must have been to the eloquent speaker 
this morning to see with what care and attention and 
respectful hearing every utterance of his was listened to ! 
It seemed as if this story had never before been told, 
as if he alone had it within his power to acquaint us 
with this marvellous fact; and yet it has been written 
and restated and rehearsed time after time, not only here 
but everywhere, in all the old towns and settlements of 
Massachusetts and New England. It is the same tale 
over again, more wonderful than ever before each time 
in its repetition ; and as the years come and go, and men 
pass on and off the stage, they love to look with in- 
creasing interest and yearning to the times that were 
wrought out in so much tribulation and trial. 

There is no grander sight than a collection of our own 
people. Massachusetts presents no better spectacle than 
the concourse of her free-thinking, broad-minded, clean- 
handed, and pure-hearted men, women, and children in our 
various communities ; and this assemblage could nowhere 
else be so possible as it is in our own beloved New 
England. That is the secret of her power. In that, so 
long as it be maintained, shall we find that element of 
strength which shall enable us not only to enjoy but sa- 
credly to perpetuate the great institutions of the past. 
Look at any such gathering of our people, consider the 
power that is bound up in one town of our Commonwealth, 
and you will find the secret that underlies the strength of 
the American republic. The little drop among millions 
that fall in the shower sheds only a sparkle, but in the sun- 
light it carries within its bosom all the richness of color; 
its companions, as they fall, may combine with it to make 



25OTH ANNIVERSARY. II5 

a greater expanse of beauty, but each one in itself is entire 
and glorious. And so the httle town in New England, clad 
in all her panoply of power, exemplifies in the greatest and 
grandest and completest degree the true democracy of 
America. Bring these little towns together one after an- 
other ; make up a State, and out of the States a nation, 
so that you will illumine the whole heavens for the en- 
lightenment of the world, for the glorification of men and 
the uplifting of those in other lands that are oppressed, — 
and you have but the testimony of what began in the little 
settlement in one town. 

It is undoubtedly true, in the language of the senti- 
ment that the President has read to you to-day, that 
Massachusetts has in times past had good executive 
magistrates in her highest positions. There is no doubt 
of that in the minds of all her people, and no one more 
than the present speaker delights to accord that high 
praise and commendation. And why is it? You will 
point in your recollection to some who seem to have 
excelled all the rest; you will find here and there one 
that in your judgment outstrips those that preceded or 
those that followed him. But look over the illustrious 
group, and tell me why it was that those men so sig- 
nalized their control of power. Great, were they? Yes. 
Patriots indeed? Yes. And loyal and true men? Most 
certainly. But that is not all. No ; you might take that 
greatness alone and plant it on some distant island of the 
sea, and it would there go unsought and unused. No, 
rather it would be unknown if it were there. But here 
in this old State of Massachusetts the citizen is always 
greater than the Governor; the power is back of the 
man who for a short time only holds the great elements 
that guard the interests of the State. For a time he ex- 
ercises that control which is put in his hands for the 
safety of all; and sometimes it may be he is delighted 



Il6 THE TOWN OF DEDHAM. 

with his prominence, and thinks he sways the destiny 
of the State. But it is only a brief assumption on his 
part; correction soon follows; and if he reads history 
and keeps up with current events, in the very near future 
he finds that while he thought when in office there could 
be nobody else as great and grand as he, others came 
after that seemed to him almost to outstrip him, — and 
it is because the people push to the front the man that 
is wanted and demanded, the one required for the emer- 
gency. Possibly men may have thought for a little while, 
before i860, that the age of great governors was gone by; 
that if any time of great peril came upon us, no man 
would be able to take the burdens of the hour. But 
John A. Andrew was equal to any time ; it was a crisis 
that placed him upon the platform of power and authority, 
and it was a crisis to which he was abundantly equal. 
So long as the men that we trust with our affairs in public 
are more devoted to liberty and to the safety of the 
people than they are to themselves and their own eleva- 
tion or continuance in power, we shall have men in our 
first places that are to be trusted and in the future to be 
honored. So long as they, like the men of the past, are 
found sober and firm in Christian virtue and truth, — in 
what makes for the substantial security of home and church 
and town and State, — so long it will lie in the mouth of 
no one to say that Massachusetts has not honored the true 
men in her high places ; and I put it to you, ladies and 
gentlemen, that if the time shall ever come that Massachu- 
setts shall be ashamed of her rulers, it will be because her 
people fail to do their own duty. It should not be for- 
gotten to-day that when this town was granted its act of 
incorporation, Sir Harry Vane was Governor of Massachu- 
setts, being then but twenty-five years of age, less than a 
year in America, scholarly, bright, accomplished, Christian, 
earnest, liberty-loving, uncompromising, full of blood and 



25OTH ANNIVERSARY. II7 

spirit, and devoted to the freedom of all men. What he 
attempted to establish at that time was not secured in 
success, as we know, because defeat before the people fol- 
lowed; and though he returned early to his home country 
and there later in life met his death in sacrifice to the 
principle that he had lived for, yet we to-day, rejoicing in 
our entire liberty, allowing to all men the right to worship 
God according to the dictates of their own consciences, 
recognizing any and all sects of faith for the free adoption 
of every man and woman, — we cannot but turn back with 
gratitude and pride to the record of Harry Vane in 1636, 
when he stood up even before the majority in Massachu- 
setts, and declared that he would live for the rights of 
the people to civil and religious liberty. 

Having the right to demand the best service, shall the 
people seek it? Do the people of the town of Dedham 
insist upon it always? Are they sometimes lax in the per- 
formance of their duties as citizens? If some foreign 
potentate should issue a proclamation declaring that on 
and after the first day of October next no man in the 
town of Dedham should have the right to cast his vote or 
to attend the town-meeting, every man would be as valiant 
and as ready for the sacrifice as the grand old heroes 
of the past were ; every man would stand at the corner 
of the streets with his musket, ready to meet the power 
that sought to put in force that infamous proclamation. 
And yet there are men in the town of Dedham who sloth- 
fully lay down their privileges every year and let them go 
into the dust, as if they were not worth the sacrifices of the 
past or the enjoyment of the present. You heard about 
the grand old men this forenoon, — how they sacrificed, 
how they stood ; how they marched, not only in Dedham, 
but over into Lexington, in order to meet the enemy. Do 
you read in the annals of Dedham in 1886 of all the men 
shouldering the ballot when the time comes, and marching 



Tl8 THE TOWN OF DEDHAM. 

to that strife? Are there any in the old records who are 
recorded as having been so busy in the cornfield that 
they could not go home to attend to the affairs of the 
town or the church? Perchance there maybe men that 
go to Boston and find occupation in counting-rooms; 
possibly lawyers that have clients in court ; possibly min- 
isters who have the idea that the whole matter of politics 
is too vile and foul for them to touch, — possibly there are 
many people who think that somehow or other the assem- 
blage of the freemen of America in our own time, clad in 
the rights of citizenship by the power that secures us all, 
that that union and concourse is not honorable and good 
for them. I tell you such people as that would not have 
had enough in them to have made a decent Puritan, That 
kind of people stayed across the water, and never came 
here; or, if they did, they took the first ship back. Why, 
Dedham has fifteen hundred voters upon her voting-list; 
fifteen htmdred men that have the right to vote, — and I say 
more, that had the duty to vote, that have not any right 
to be excused except for insuperable reasons ; and only 
seven hundred and sixty-one out of that whole number 
voted at the last election. Shame on us to come up here 
to-day and sit down with unblushing faces, and listen to 
the glory of the past and the greatness of our ancestors 
and the sacrifices they made and of the stuff that was in 
them, — and we weak, puny, insignificant, out of compari- 
son ! Perhaps this is the way that the Commonwealth 
should not talk; perhaps the Governor ought to rise here 
and deliver some highflown oration. But this is the only 
time, at a two hundred and fiftieth anniversary, that I can 
possibly have the opportunity to free my mind and soul. 

Oh, no ! some men after they have heard a splendid ex- 
altation of the idea of the Massachusetts town-meeting, 
what a grand theatre it is for the operations of freemen, 
say, " Oh, yes," as they walk along the street and button up 



25OTH ANNIVERSARY. II9 

their coats for fear of contamination, — " Oh, yes, that would 
do in times past, when tliey had good town- meetings ! " 
Ah ! if there are in that seven hundred and fifty men who 
stayed away from the polls in Dedham any who think that 
affairs ought to be better than they are, any believing that 
in the town there are fellow-citizens that do not appreciate 
to the full their rights and their duties, there is abundant 
call for them to go in and stimulate, elevate, encourage, 
and strengthen. You think the citadel of power is in dan- 
ger? You think that the enemies of good government are 
storming our strong places at the present time? Well, 
then, the business for you is to rush into the breach, and 
to stay there until security is assured. 

I hear from time to time a good deal said about how this 
republic of ours and how our State is to go to ruin; that it 
is to go down through the path of luxury, it may be ; that 
it will go down through some contest between labor and cap- 
ital; that it will go down to destruction in one or another 
of many different ways. But I tell you no such thing. If 
it goes down at all, it will go down over men that have 
become corpses before there was any struggle at all ; if it 
goes down, it will be because our people will talk of the 
greatness of the town system, will extol the record of the 
past, will boast of their Puritan ancestry, and will elevate 
themselves in the estimation of the world, but will not do 
one single thing if it interrupts their leisure, or go one step 
aside from their course or their pleasures, to keep in power 
the principles that the grand old Puritans established. 

When I stood before the humble monument on the 
Green at Lexington ; when in my boyhood I read the 
record of that inscription for the first time ; when I saw 
the old house in which the heroes lived, and out of which 
some of them went for the last time on that eventful 
morning, and talked with the men that survived that 
onset, — I received an impulse into my very nature that 



I20 THE TOWN OF DEDHAM. 

has made me ever stand for the exercise of that power 
which under the blessing of God our patriotic fathers 
made possible for this generation. 

Ladies and gentlemen, I have far exceeded any reason- 
able limit of time that could be set me ; but my only excuse 
shall be that I can by no possibility be with you all again 
two hundred and fifty years hence. So, for this time and 
this occasion only, I bid you in behalf of our mother-State 
the most cordial greeting, the best wishes for the future, — 
that you shall have all these privileges that you have a 
right to ask for and that you are fit to enjoy, because you 
show your purpose to use them. If we do that, if you in 
this town will take hold of that responsibility and work out 
that result, the coming historian two hundred and fifty 
years hence will not be compelled to stop his recital as he 
approaches the year 1886, but will go on with his glowing 
periods of power and influence, telling what his ancestors 
— we of this day — did to secure and perpetuate America's 
liberty and greatness ; and he will recite all that, and present 
our great future, as the abundant fruition of the still more 
glorious past. 

The President then read the following toast : — 

" The City of Boston ! Distinguished not more for its literary, 
educational, and scientific institutions, than for the honor, integrity, 
and magnificent generosity of its inhabitants." 

I have the very great pleasure and distinguished 
honor of introducing to you the Honorable Hugh 
O'Brien, Mayor of the city of Boston. 



25OTH ANNIVERSARY. 121 



ADDRESS OF HON. HUGH O'BRIEN. 

Mr. President, and Ladies and Gentlemen, — After 
listening to the very eloquent speech of His Excellency 
the Governor, I have no hesitation in saying, and I know 
that you will indorse every word I say, that he is a worthy 
successor of the distinguished men who have hitherto 
filled the executive chair of the State. 

The city of Boston greets the town of Dedham on her 
two hundred and fiftieth anniversary. Four hundred thou- 
sand people, your neighbors, rejoice in your prosperity and 
the happy auspices under which you celebrate this memo- 
rial. What a remarkable history is that of the nation of 
which you are a part ! Two hundred and fifty years ago 
this country a wilderness, now a nation of sixty millions 
inhabitants ! What marvellous growth ! what astonishing 
prosperity ! The city of Boston, your neighbor, is fast 
enlarging her limits ; her boundaries now reach the Ded- 
ham line. Who knows what may take place in the next 
two hundred and fifty years? The city of Boston, the great 
metropolis of New England, two hundred and fifty years 
hence, with five millions or six millions of inhabitants, the 
great city of the North, may then include Dedham within 
its limits. 

You refer in your sentiment, Mr. President, to the city of 
Boston as promoting and establishing literary, educational, 
and scientific institutions. Boston is a large, prosperous, 
and wealthy city; during the past fifty years her population 
has increased seven-fold, her valuation twelve-fold. Fifty 
years ago the entire valuation of the city was about 
sixty million dollars; now it is upward of seven hundred 
million dollars. Our citizens feel that liberal expendi- 
ture for educational purposes is a good investment. In 
our public schools we have from sixty-five thousand to 



122 THE TOWN OF DEDHAM. 

seventy thousand scholars, and we expend every year 
about two million dollars for schoolhouses and school main- 
tenance, — an average of thirty dollars for each pupil. We 
consider this an investment that brings about good re- 
sults. It seems a large expenditure when we consider that 
it costs thirty dollars a year for each scholar ; but it gives 
our boys and girls a good start in life, and plants a foun- 
dation for good citizenship. We do not stop here ; with 
schools of technology and our public library, we place in 
the hands of our children the means of perfecting them- 
selves in any branch of learning. Next to our public 
schools, the public library is the great educator of our 
people; it contains a wealth of literature and science 
and practical knowledge that tempts the ambition of the 
young and old, and is a source of pleasure to all classes 
of readers. The best facilities should be extended to 
young men desirous of perfecting themselves in any 
branch of knowledge, and Boston has always felt it to be 
her duty to extend these facilities. If by a liberal pol- 
icy we produce a man in our day and generation so 
pre-eminent in any branch of knowledge that he will be 
considered a public benefactor, it will more than repay 
us for the expense. 

The city of Boston has grown and prospered in part on 
account of her institutions of learning, for which her ex- 
penditures are so liberal, but more particularly on account 
of the energy and business integrity of her citizens. We 
have no mineral wealth, no agricultural wealth, but we 
have energy and push; and with intelligence and educa- 
tional advantages we stand to-day second only to the 
great city of New York. As for our benevolence and 
generosity, we have only to point to what has been done 
during the past two weeks for the distressed city of 
Charleston. Upward of sixty-six thousand dollars of 
voluntary subscriptions have already been received, and 



25OTH ANNIVERSARY. I 23 

the fund will probably reach one hundred thousand 
dollars. 

I conclude with the hope that Boston and Dcdham 
may long continue good neighbors; and that at some time 
in the distant future Boston may have incorporated the 
smaller community within her boundaries. 

The President : I have now this toast to pro- 
pose : — 

" The Fathers of New England ! Surrendering with reluctance 
a proud and exclusive individuality in the interest of the common 
defence and the general welfare, these plain and sober but brave 
masters of a commanding common-sense constructed a frame of 
civil government unsurpassed in strength and endurance." 

I have the high honor of inviting Dr. George E. 
Ellis, President of the Massachusetts Historical 
Society, to respond to this toast. 

ADDRESS OF DR. GEORGE E. ELLIS. 

Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen, — I have 
reason to believe that seven generations of my ancestry, in- 
cluding my parents, lie in the soil of this town. My library 
fire is kept cheerful by wood grown on the paternal acres 
here; and as I saw Mr. French with a load of excellent 
wood passing in your procession, I hoped that he might 
leave that at my house. From my earliest years I have been 
familiar with the names of localities which I suppose are 
known only to the residents of Dedham. Singular words 
they are, — " Cutham," " Tiot," " Clapboardtrees," " Purga- 
tory " (I hope that is a figurative expression), and " Fox- 
hill." My own habits and taste of reading have led me to 
interest myself very much in the characters and institutions 
of those who founded these country towns, the original 



124 THE TOWN OF DEDHAM. 

Puritan stock of Massachusetts. The scenes all around us 
of thrift and prosperity, of beauty and neatness, — these 
delightful homes and tidy farms and autumn fields, — are all 
legacies, results, effects. They certify to us the toil, the 
self-sacrifice, the wisdom, the virtues, the thought for their 
posterity of those who first entered this wilderness. More 
safe, more sure to yield their steady returns, than the de- 
posits in all our banks and the investments in all bonds, 
are the hard labors and the simple virtues of ancestral gen- 
erations in securing varied and permanent advantages to 
those who succeeded them. 

Many of you must have taken note of the usage which 
has steadily and rapidly advanced among us in New England 
in recent years in the preparation of most elaborate town 
histories, with extended genealogical tables of our New Eng- 
land families in all their ramifications. This usage, if not 
peculiar and confined to New England and to those who 
have adopted it from us, is strikingly characteristic of our 
own people, and is not known in any other part of Christen- 
dom, — certainly not to such a marked extent as regards 
common, social classes of plain people, comprehensive of the 
whole population. Nobles and gentry in foreign countries 
are concerned about pedigrees, even though the bar-sinister 
often obtrudes itself; but our town histories give us long rolls 
of genealogies of people of an ordinary range, in nowise 
individually distinguished, — husbandmen, mechanics, arti- 
sans, — excellent but commonplace people, the staple crops 
of generations of floating humanity, matured and gathered 
in the annual harvestings. Hard work, domestic comfort, 
frugality, useful and blameless lives and neighborly satis- 
factions must have filled out their experience ; the emer- 
gencies of peril or war have drawn out their energies and 
proved their nobleness and valor. Interspersed among 
the pages of these volumes we may mark occasionally a 
member of the Great and General Court; a physician self- 



25OTH ANNIVERSARY. I 25 

taught, acquiring his skill at the cost of his patients ; an 
ingenious and thrifty craftsman or manufacturer, with an 
occasional character of tragedy, as in this town, — hardly 
many of romance. A vast deal of capacity, pluck, and 
enterprise has smouldered in young persons in our quiet 
towns, and they have generally had to remove to wider 
spheres to exercise their latent abilities. Many of them 
are in the habit — and a blessed habit it is — of sending 
back to their early rural homes magnificent gifts and pub- 
lic libraries. These town histories — and I have looked 
over a vast number of them — are abundantly illustrated 
with the portraits of the heads and members of fami- 
lies. These counterfeit presentments, I am bound to say, 
are not generally prepossessing visages. They are not of 
classic, Grecian, or intellectual mould ; their type is pecu- 
liar to New England, and not found in any other part of 
the globe. They even suggest some of Darwin's " missing 
links," stronger in feature and fibre than in the graces; 
the faces are generally hard and resolute, indicating a 
contracted and careworn existence. Of course the por- 
traits of ministers of long and faithful pastorates are found 
in these volumes ; these are varied in benignity and stern- 
ness, occasionally marked by stolidity, but very rarely by 
stupidity. Now, my friends, what is it that prompts the 
labor and expense, the hearty local appreciation of these 
volumes of town history? It is rather curiosity, I think, 
than admiration, rather interest than pride, in the descend- 
ants of the good sound stock from which they sprang; 
honest, laborious, self-governed. God-fearing men, and 
feminine, rather than male, women, — those who held and 
transmitted title-deeds of land, who cleared the forests 
and caught the falling waters and tamed the wilderness ; 
opened highways, beautified the pastures and the mead- 
ows, built the schoolhouses and the meeting-house, and 
could account for all their paternal and filial relations in 



126 THE TOWN OF DEDHAM. 

the records of their family Bibles as incidents of legal mat- 
rimony, which the Old World people cannot always do. 
These plain people, keenly set upon their own individual 
rights, sharp, but always ready and generous in serving 
the common weal, figure in our town histories. 

Now, there is one suggestion of a most just and grateful 
character which not only warrants, but demands, our high- 
est appreciation of our Puritan ancestry. It is this : we 
are enjoying in full measure, in the heritage which they 
have left to us, the fruits of all their virtues, but are really 
in no whit harmed by the peculiar qualities in them which 
we cannot love and approve. Only what was good in 
them, in their principles and institutions, has left its effects 
for us. Their severities and limitations, after giving them 
a great deal of vexation, have all died with them ; their 
superstitions and prejudices we have given up, if only to 
give place for others of our own. We find it very easy to 
rid ourselves of all their scruples and to antiquate their 
observances. Their Fast Day has become for us a sort of 
out-of-door thanksgiving festival ; and if henceforth there 
should be a failure of mince-pies for Christmas, it will not 
be chargeable upon the Puritans, but upon the Prohibi- 
tionists who have laid an interdict upon some of the in- 
gredients of that savory viand. While thus we relieve 
ourselves from the yoke of our fathers, and are in nowise 
losers or sufferers by any incumbrance which they have left 
on their heritage, how is it with those principles and insti- 
tutions, those habits and usages of the fathers which we 
all commend and approve as the security of public virtue 
and happiness? It will be a serious subject for some 
future orator of a most impartial and generous mind to 
discuss, if he will do it candidly, as to what our New Eng- 
land would have been if left to the development of its own 
original indigenous stock by its own traditions and meth- 
ods, and what it is likely to be from the swarming into it 



25OTH ANNIVERSARY. 12/ 

of foreign peoples so unlike our own. On which side the 
balance of the difference, for loss or gain, for good or evil, 
as the alternative may be, it is enough to know that those 
who come from our old stock have been moved to make a 
stand for their own institutions and their own way of man- 
aging them, against alien methods and influences. 

This, however, cannot be done by party or race strifes 
or animosities, but by calm demonstration of the better 
way. On at least four occasions citizens of Boston have 
successfully engaged the restraining power of the legisla- 
ture to interpose in keeping their municipal administration 
in its old paths of economy and responsibility; for pro- 
tecting ancient burial-grounds and commons ; for limiting 
taxation and indebtedness, and for providing a pohce not 
appointed by those of whom they are to keep a sharp 
oversight. There need be no variance or conflict between 
those who have succeeded native-born, through their gen- 
erations, to this fair heritage of the Puritans and those who 
find it so attractive, so free, so prosperous as to seek here 
for what they could not have or enjoy on the other side of 
the ocean. 

The President : The next toast which I have to 
present is as follows : — 

" The Sofis and Daughters of Dedham, and their Descendants 
wherever dispersed ! God bless them ! We welcome them with 
open arms to the hospitalities of this occasion." 

It has always been a pleasant and attractive recol- 
lection of the celebration of 1836, the one more 
frequently mentioned than any other, that the town 
was then honored with the presence of the Hon. 
Edward Everett. It will be to us one of the most 
pleasing recollections of this occasion that his son 



128 THE TOWN OF DEDHAM. 

is to reply to the toast which I have just read ; and 
I have the very great pleasure and honor of intro- 
ducing to you Dr. William Everett, of Quincy. 

ADDRESS OF DR. V^ILLIAM EVERETT. 

Mr. President, Fellow-Citizens, — I think I have 
a right to call you by that name, because one of my 
ancestors was one of the nineteen men that helped draw 
up the town covenant to which Mr. WORTHINGTON re- 
ferred in his address this morning. In the true Puritan 
fashion, he and his associates settled what a town ought 
to be in advance, and then admitted every one who 
would agree to do exactly as they said ; much as I once 
heard a Californian describe the process of getting up 
a new mining company: "Three fellows get up a con- 
stitution, and then assess the rest." In the next genera- 
tion my ancestor attained the modest town honors of 
which we were told to-day. He was Captain John Everett, 
— of course a distinguished man; and he was one of five 
who got the right to the town lands confirmed by Jo- 
sias, the grandson of Chickatabut. You see the honest 
men of Dedham had shrunk from nineteen to five, yet 
there was an Everett among them ; and I suppose that 
entitles me to claim one fifth of the territory of Old Ded- 
ham whenever I ask for it. Then, in the next generation, 
we rose a step further; we had had a founder, we had 
had a captain, — now we were real good boys, and they 
made one of us Deacon John Everett, and beyond that 
town honors do not go. 

The last of my own race born in this town was my grand- 
father Oliver ; and as this is a family matter, I should like 
to take up a little time with his life. His father was a poor 
farmer with nine sons, and only one of them could receive 



25OTH ANNIVERSARY. 1 29 

a college education. Oliver, though by no means strong, 
was apprenticed to his brother as a carpenter, and forced 
to renounce all thought of a professional life. One con- 
solation only he had, — a taste for music; and had by 
some means scraped together money enough to buy 
a violin. But my great-grandfather's rigid Puritanism 
thought all music a waste of time, and that instrument 
in particular an abomination; so the violin was confis- 
cated and burned. The discipline had its effect; music 
died out in the blood for three generations. He worked 
on in his drudgery till twenty-one ; and the moment he 
became his own master resolved in spite of his poverty 
to force his way to college, which he did at the age 
of twenty-three. When I think of the sacrifice such a 
process demanded, I am ashamed to think of our boys, 
brought up in every luxury, whose parents cannot per- 
suade them to stay at school after fifteen or sixteen 
years of age, because they must be in a store making 
money, which they will not know how to spend when 
made. The labor bore its fruit. My grandfather, after 
graduating in 1779, became the honored pastor of the 
New South Church in 1781. He there carried out a 
character which has belonged to the whole race of Ever- 
etts in history or in fiction so far as I know, — a some- 
what rebellious nature. Sir Walter Scott has an Everett 
in one of his novels, and a very unmanageable person he is. 
We have all a streak of revolt. When my grandfather 
was a candidate, there Vvas a knot of old ladies, mothers 
in Israel, who used to meet with their knitting in the 
tower of the Old South and catechise all the young min- 
isters. Oliver Everett was the first to raise the standard of 
revolt; he would not be catechised by the old ladies, and 
his rebellion stopped the practice. He was pastor ten 
years; his health broke down; he retired to his native 
county (we all have to get back to Norfolk), though to 



130 THE TOWN OF DEDHAM. 

another town ; he Hved an honored life, was one of the 
first eulogists of Washington in February, 1800, and was 
voted for for Congress in November, 1802. But it killed 
him, and he died in December at fifty, having made the 
name of an old Dedham race loved and honored by dis- 
tinguished men all over the country. His son's manu- 
script, which I have in my pocket, says he was the kindest 
of parents, revered and honored by his children as a sec- 
ond Providence, to whom they looked for every impulse 
in the home circle. 

Now, I have told this audience details, because I believe 
it is the story of every Dedham man who has gone out 
to do honor to the town. It illustrates the necessity of 
" contentment," as Mr. Worthington so well gave it to us. 
It does not mean repose or inaction. It means making 
the very best and utmost of home ; never leaving home 
till you are sure it has no more for you, and then leav- 
ing it only to carry its principles abroad, and make new 
Dedhams and Concords, new Plymouths and Bostons, 
everywhere. I suppose the Dedham settlers were think- 
ing of the discontented people at Cambridge and Dor- 
chester, who hurried to Connecticut before they knew 
the value of Massachusetts. They and the others who 
stayed, determined to make the most of her. In this our 
birth-year they founded the College, the original New 
Towne college, before Harvard came. 

The principle of contentment was to stay at home as 
long as home had anything to give, — as long as parents 
and kindred, the house walls, the home fields, the home 
school, the home college, could give anything, and then 
go out to spread home wider wherever they went. Ded- 
ham men and their children will always keep the thought 
of her. I am glad that is her name; it shows whence 
we came and what we have to give. I have no sym- 
pathy with those who are trying to revive what they 



25OTH ANNIVERSARY. I3I 

call the beautiful Indian names, which are mostly un- 
couth and to us unpronounceable and meaningless. I 
am glad we are Dedham and not Chickatabut or Quino- 
bequin; it shows that we belong to the great imperial 
race which subdued the wilderness here to itself, and 
having raised Massachusetts to her present perfection 
is leaving her, not yet exhausted, to spread her freedom 
and her principles over yet undeveloped lands. I hail 
it as the race of my ancestor, who tradition says was 
a soldier in the Low Countries before he came here, — 
a fighter in the old battleground of freedom and culture 
in Europe, a pioneer in the battle of freedom and culture 
here. 

The President : The next regular toast is two- 
fold ill its nature : — 

" The Cojiimon School, the best birthright of every child in Puri- 
tan New England ! Collegiate education, the noblest gift that the 
parent can bestow on her children I In the two, fostered and en- 
couraged by the law from the beginning, 'lies the secret of the 
success and character of New England.' " 

I have the honor of introducing to you to re- 
ply, Rev. Dr. Timothy Dwight, President of Yale 
College. 

ADDRESS OF DR. DWIGHT. 

Mr. President, — I shall be unable to reply to the 
toast you have given, because I have to take the train 
leaving Dedham at twenty minutes after five. I will only 
say, sir, that I came here to worship my ancestors ; and 
I find that in the rejoicing in his ancestry which Mr. 
Everett has exhibited so strikingly in the remarks which 
he has made, he has forgotten one point of history here 



132 THE TOWN OF DEDHAM. 

recorded in the annals of Dedham; namely, that the 
inhabitants felt a disposition to move to the southward. 
That disposition, sir, followed in the Dwight family, and 
they moved southward into Connecticut, and there they 
found the place which you seem to have failed to find 
here, although you tried for it; namely, the town where 
" contentment " dwells. That is the town of New Haven, 
Connecticut. And, as I am obliged to follow my ances- 
try this afternoon in their migration southward, and am 
sure of finding contentment when I arrive there, with 
thanks to you, sir, for your kindness in asking me to say 
a word, I bid you farewell. 

The President: — The next toast which I have 
to propose is, The Orator of the Day ! to which 
Mr. WoRTHiNGTON wlU respond. 



ADDRESS OF ERASTUS WORTHINGTON, ESQ. 

Mr. President, — There used to be a very salutary 
rule which it was found necessary to adopt in the old vil- 
lage debating-societies, — that no man should speak twice 
on the same subject. Perhaps at this late hour it would 
be a good time to enforce such a rule. I recognize the 
fact that I have had my hour to-day, and I have no heart 
longer to detain this company. But I suppose that con- 
ventional usage prescribes that the orator of the day shall 
be tendered the compliment of a post-prandial opportunity 
to speak, with the implication that his speech must be 
a short one. 

I was reminded by the speech of Mr. Everett of a little 
story which I recently found in one of those bright news- 
paper paragraphs that appear in the columns of a good 
newspaper, and which ran somewhat in this manner: " An 



25OTH ANNIVERSARY. I 33 

eminent master of the violin was performing on his won- 
derful instrument at a private musical party. In the com- 
pany were two ladies, one presumably older than the other, 
who behind her fan quietly imparted to her younger neigh- 
bor the important fact that the violin of the master was 
two hundred and fifty years old. ' Ah,' responded the 
younger lady, ' if I could make such music as that upon 
an instrument two hundred and fifty years old, I would try 
to raise money enough to buy a new one." This story, 
among other things, well illustrates the difference between 
the two kinds of people we meet in the world, — those who 
think anything is valuable because it is old, and those 
who value anything because it is new. 

There are some of us in Dedham who realize that there 
is much in the history of the old town which is worthy 
of being preserved and perpetuated. We agree with the 
elder lady in the story, that an instrument two hundred and 
fifty years old has a peculiar capacity for music in it. In 
1862 the Dedham Historical Society was incorporated. 
Quietly and unobtrusively during all these years it has 
been making a collection which while not extensive is 
nevertheless unique and valuable. It has never had any 
proper place where this collection could be arranged, clas- 
sified, and made accessible ; it has been obliged to depend 
upon the permission of the County Commissioners for a 
place in the Court House, where it might store that 
collection. But notwithstanding these disadvantages the 
Society has kept up its organization and meetings, until 
now it has the opportunity of taking the position of influ- 
ence to which it is justly entitled. 

In February last, by the will of the late Miss Hannah 
Shuttleworth, the Society came into the possession of an 
eligible lot of land in a central location, with the munifi- 
cent bequest of ten thousand dollars, expressly designated 
by the testator for the purpose of erecting a suitable build- 



134 THE TOWN OF DEDHAM. 

ing for the Society. Our plans are matured and the con- 
tracts made, and to-morrow morning we propose to begin 
the new half-century by breaking ground for the new 
building. 

What is quite significant of the deep and genuine in- 
terest taken by many of the people of Dedham in the work 
of this Society is their readiness to respond to our recent 
request for an additional sum of money. It was found 
necessary to supplement the amount of the legacy by a 
considerable sum in order to complete the building ac- 
cording to the plans and specifications. Three weeks ago 
yesterday we opened a subscription paper for this purpose. 
Without any extraordinary effort, and asking, besides the 
members of the Society, those only whom we supposed to 
be specially interested in Dedham history, we have now ob- 
tained pledges amounting to nearly fifteen hundred dollars ; 
and, what gives us a peculiar satisfaction, these pledges 
have been given heartily and generously, and with many 
words of encouragement. 

In this way those of us who realize that not only what 
remains of our local history of two hundred and fifty years 
should be gathered up, treasured, and perpetuated, but 
also those things which must form a part of present and 
future history, rejoice in beginning a new half-centurj'* 
with an appropriate building to be devoted to those 
purposes. 

The President : I have now the pleasant duty to 
propose a toast which must elicit a warm response 
from every heart : — 

The Patriot Soldiers of Dedham ! Brave and true men, they 
fought not for ambition or titles or fame, but for their country, 
for freedom, for humanity. 



25OTH ANNIVERSARY. I 35 

I have the honor of introducing to you to re- 
spond to this toast Colonel James M. Ellis, of 
West Dedham: — 



ADDRESS OF COLONEL ELLIS. 

Mr. Chairman, — I thank you, sir, for calling upon 
me to respond to this toast, because as an humble agri- 
culturist I did not expect so much honor, and chiefly 
because I wish our honored guests from different parts 
of the State and country to know that this town here by 
the banks of the Charles, with its many spots of historic 
interest, its beautiful streets, its Court House and con- 
venient jail, is but a small part of the town of Dedham; 
that the aesthetic and agricultural part lies to the west 
among the hills, from whose summits one may look on a 
panorama of exquisite beauty, with Wachusett and Mo- 
nadnock on the one side, and Blue Hill and the waters of 
Boston Harbor on the other. On these health-giving hills 
we raise a sturdy stock, a fair specimen of which sits by 
your side, Mr. Chairman, — our youthful Joseph Colburn, 
who at eighty-one has to-day been one of General Weld's 
chief aids, riding at the head of the column, and I doubt 
not expects to do like service fifty years hence. At one 
time we thought of establishing a town of our own, to be 
called " Contentment; " but the doctrine of secession hav- 
ing been settled by the war, we have decided to stay with 
our old mother, who has stood by us so well. 

Responding more especially to the sentiment proposed, 
it seems to me, sir, eminently fitting that you should honor 
the patriot soldiers of Dedham by giving them a place in 
the records of this day ; for I believe that the citizens of 
Dedham have ever been prompt to respond to the country's 
call, and to defend their hearths and homes, from the days 



136 THE TOWN OF DEDHAM. 

when the first settlers shouldered the old " King's Arms," 
a specimen of which still hangs in the old Fairbanks 
kitchen, and the days when Captain Joseph Guild led his 
minute-men to Concord, down to the dark days of 1861 
and the war for the Union. 

The orator of the day, in his address at the dedication 
of Memorial Hall, has so well and fully told the story of 
the services of Dedham soldiers that I need only to state 
briefly a few facts. While there were those from Dedham 
serving in various commands on land and sea during the 
Civil War, the chief enlistments from this town were in 
Company F of the Eighteenth, Company I of the Thirty- 
fifth, and Company D of the Forty-third Regiments of 
Massachusetts Volunteers. The Forty-third, a nine-months 
regiment, served only in North Carolina, taking part in 
the battles of Kinston and White Hall. The Eighteenth 
served chiefly in the Virginia campaigns, in the Army of 
the Potomac, under General Fitz-John Porter, — a brave 
and gallant officer, whose recent restoration to the army 
rolls gives great satisfaction to his soldiers. In the second 
battle of Bull Run the Eighteenth received its first baptism 
of blood, and sufl"ered severe loss, more than sixty per cent 
of those engaged being either killed or wounded. Here 
fell Captain Charles W. Carroll, in whose honor our Post is 
named, whose patriotic ardor, bravery in action, and sol- 
dier's death will ever give him a tender place in the memo- 
ries of his townsmen. The Thirty-fifth Regiment left in 
the second year of the war, and formed a part of the Ninth 
Corps, under General Burnside. When only a month in 
service it took part in the terrible battles of South Moun- 
tain and Antietam, and suffered heavy loss, more than two 
thirds of its officers and one third of its men being killed 
or disabled. The Dedham soldiers fought and fell at 
Fredericksburg and Gettysburg, in the battles of the Wil- 
derness, in the siege of Knoxville, in crossing the bridge 



25OTH ANNIVERSARY. I 37 

under Burnside at Antietam, in facing the fierce fusillade 
of fire from the stone-wall on Marye's Heights, in charging 
over the ramparts and into the crater at Petersburg, and in 
the closing campaign of the war under Grant. Wherever 
placed, these Dedham men showed their bravery in action 
and their heroism in death. 

And now, sir, this anniversary which we celebrate to- 
day, — this decorated town, these flying colors, this flag 
of our Union over all, — what would it have been had 
these men died in vain, and we to-day a part of a divided 
country? Many of you here recall the march of the first 
Massachusetts soldiers from the front of Boylston Hall in 
Boston, and through the streets of Baltimore. The flag on 
Sumter had been fired upon from the city of Charleston ; 
and in bitter hatred South Carolina and Massachusetts 
were face to face in the beginning of a bloody war. To- 
day we are indeed at peace, and instead of sending thou- 
sands of men to destroy our Southern brethren, we are 
sending thousands of dollars to help and comfort them, and 
to build up again their shattered and fallen homes. We 
can well believe that we are united in brotherhood again 
when the editor of the leading Charleston paper can say to 
his readers : " What I want to bring up to you now is this 
glorious fact, that this city of Charleston, so symbolic of 
all that stood for disunion and civil strife in the days of 
the past, is in the poignancy of her grief furnishing to-day 
to the civilized world and to the Republic proof of the fact 
that all Americans are kin, and that this is indeed and in 
truth one people and one country;" and Mayor Courtenay 
of that city can say in his despatch, "What a great thing 
it is to be a part of this magnificent Union of States, 
surrounded by those who sympathize with us in our 
distress ! " 

Two hundred and fifty thousand men form the Grand 
Army of the Republic. " Fraternity, Charity, Loyalty,'* 



138 THE TOWN OF DEDHAM. 

are the watchwords emblazoned on their banners. Their 
duty to-day is to see that the Union, preserved on the field 
of battle, shall be maintained for all time ; and they mean 
to do this, not by force of arms, but by fraternity which 
embraces all their countrymen, by a charity which sends 
their commander-in-chief to Charleston to see that our 
old enemies shall not suffer, and by a loyalty that is 
unconditional. 

In behalf of my comrades I desire, in closing, to thank 
the Committee for giving them a place of honor in the 
festivities of this day, and to express the hope that all the 
celebrations of the future which this town shall see may 
be like this of to-day, with its procession and pomp and 
parade, under a bright sun and under the flag of the united 
nation in a victory of peace. 

The President : I will now read two toasts, to 
which I will ask my friend Winslow Warren, Esq., 
to respond. First, — 

The Committee of Arrangements f We recognize with thanks 
their zeal and efficiency in the performance of their duties on 
this occasion. 

Second, — 

The Pilgrim Fathers I 

" Ay, call it holy ground, 

The soil where first they trod ! 
They have left unstained what there they found, — 
Freedom to worship God." 



25OTH ANNIVERSARY. 1 39 



ADDRESS OF WINSLOW WARREN, Esq. 

Mr. President, my Neighbors and Friends, — We 
are now coming down to the official toasts, when a man has 
to do double duty ; but my speech, I can assure you, will be 
very brief. On behalf of the Committee of Arrangements 
I desire to say, that if our efforts to make this day a 
success have been in any measure rewarded, that reward 
has come from your enjoyment of the occasion and from 
the many evidences of satisfaction throughout the town. 
But our speech has been made. Ours was the hand 
that struck the rock from which has gushed forth the 
wisdom, the wit, and the eloquence you have heard to- 
day. No, not our hand, but the hands of all those ladies 
and gentlemen who have labored day and night to make 
this celebration a worthy one ; and I take the liberty now 
on your behalf of tendering the thanks of the people of 
Dedham to all the sub-committees and all those who have 
worked so faithfully for you. 

But I cannot stand here as an adopted son of this town 
of Dedham without recalling that it has been my rare 
good fortune within the short space of sixteen years to 
celebrate two two hundred and fiftieth anniversaries of 
towns near and dear to me, — one, of my native town of 
Plymouth ; and now again, of my adopted town of Ded- 
ham. And the connection between those two events is 
not so distant as many of you may think ; for I find on 
reading the records of the old Pilgrim Colony that in 
1627, when the first division of land was made by lot 
among the settlers, after providing for the metes and 
bounds of the various lots, the Court added as follows : 
" That whatsoever the surveyors judge sufficient shall 
stand without contradiction or opposition, and every man 



140 THE TOWN OF DEDHAM. 

shall rest contented ■sNx'dx his lot," This, I believe, is the 
first and only Pilgrim pun on record. 

Now, turning to your records, I find that after your 
Pilgrim Fathers made their perilous voyage up the 
stormy Charles from Watertown, and landed on these 
shores, mindful of the Pilgrim injunction of Plymouth 
they "rested contented with their lot;" and more than 
that, they named their town " Contentment," and there it 
remains on your town-seal to-day, — a bond of union be- 
tween the oldest town of Plymouth County and the oldest 
town (save one) of Norfolk County. And I cannot forget 
as I look round this hall that here are the descendants of 
those men. When I see a Fairbanks, a Fisher, and an Ellis, 
a Guild and a Baker, the old names of your settlers come 
up before me, and I recognize the names of honorable 
families honorably borne down the years since that early 
settlement. And so it is, my friends, with the peculiar 
characteristics of this town of Dedham. No town in New 
England has to-day the characteristics of those early times 
more plainly marked than yours. What else was it that 
carried to the front in the Revolutionary War nearly every 
able-bodied man in Dedham? What else that inspired 
the patriotic fervor and devotion of a Carroll, a Lathrop, 
and of many others who now remain among us? What 
else put that man, whose name is upon every one's lips 
to-day, your distinguished townsman Fisher Ames, easily 
at the forefront of post-Revolutionary orators, and carried 
his eminent son, Seth Ames, to the supreme judgeship of 
Massachusetts, — the most lovable of judges, whose smile 
was truly a benediction, and whose words of wisdom made 
their impress on the judicial reports of Massachusetts ? 
What else gave to you the learning of a Dwight, the elo- 
quence of an Everett, the culture and refinement of him 
whom we knew and never will forget, — our friend and 
once our neighbor, Edmund Quincy? What else gave to 



25OTH ANNIVERSARY. 141 

US the Sturdy, incorruptible character of that foremost of 
our citizens, — whose place, alas ! is vacant here to-day, — 
Judge Waldo Colburn, whom all of us respected, and whose 
name will forever remain in the annals of Dedham? 

I might go on, but I am reminded that the time is 
drawing near when these exercises should close, and I will 
conclude by quoting to you a reply that the Committee 
of Arrangements received from one of our distinguished 
guests, who, unable to be here, wrote us that he regretted 
his " inability to attend the Five Hundred and Twentieth 
Anniversary of the Incorporation of Dedham." We too 
regret his inability, and we regret the possibility that some 
of us also may not be able to attend ; but we can all join 
in the hope that when the Five Hundred and Twentieth 
Anniversary of the Incorporation of Dedham shall arrive, 
it may find this town no less prosperous and contented 
than the Two Hundred and Fiftieth Anniversary leaves it. 

The President : Ladies and Gentlemen, the 
next toast is, — 

Otir Naturalized Fellow-Citizens ! Loyal to every duty of 
peace or war. Happy, proud America knows no distinction 
between her children by birth and her children by adoption. 

I had invited Rev. Robert J. Johnson, my 
friend and a friend of Dedham, to respond, but he 
is unavoidably absent. He however sent his reply, 
which is as follows : — 

ADDRESS OF REV. ROBERT J. JOHNSON. 

Mr. President, and Fellow-Citizens, — The invi- 
tation to speak to the sentiment which has just been 
offered, reached me only yesterday. My words there- 



142 THE TOWN OF DEDHAM. 

fore must of course be of a hastily-considered character, 
and far from doing justice to the broad field of patriotic 
survey and reflection which it opens out. 

The naturalized citizens of Dedham join as heartily as 
their native-born neighbors in celebrating this anniversary 
of its settlement as a town. They feel an equal pride in its 
history, and an equal pride in its future. ^ 

You have well said that America " knows no distinction 
between her children by birth and her children by adop- 
tion ; " and indeed it is the distinctive glory of our land 
that she welcomes to the support and the shelter of her 
flag all the honest manhood of the world, no matter under 
what skies it was born. Our orators may descant upon the 
glories of America through all the centuries to come with- 
out finding any nobler thing to say of her than has been 
already said in two famous and familiar lines, — 

" For her free latch-string never was drawn in 
Against the poorest child of Adam's kin." 

The great and far-seeing men who founded the Republic 
which thus opens its arms to all the children of men, had 
the prescience to perceive that its destiny and mission 
was to be the home of a more comprehensive nationality 
than any that the world had yet seen, in which all civilized 
races should merge to form the mightiest people of all 
time. We look back to their work, and say that they 
builded better than they knew ; yet after all, they but fol- 
lowed the instinct of their situation. For we must remem- 
ber that Hamilton, Gallatin, Gates, Steuben, Montgomery, 
Witherspoon, and many other of the Revolutionary states- 
men and soldiers, and several of the signers of the Dec- 
laration of Independence, were themselves emigrants to 
this country, foreigners by birth and Americans by adop- 
tion. What, therefore, could be more natural than that 
they should have laid the foundations of our government 



25OTH ANNIVERSARY. 143 

broad enough to sustain a national life whose blood should 
be enriched by continual drafts from the original sources 
of its being? The wisdom of the fathers has been grandly 
justified by a century of marvellous growth and progress. 
The benign spirit which framed a political and social order 
to which all the sons of Adam were freely bidden to come 
in, has resulted in building a nation of three millions up 
to a nation of sixty millions of people. The census of 
1880 shows that since the year 1820 over ten millions of 
people have come into this country from foreign lands, 
and of this number three millions came here from the land 
of Emmet, O'Connell, and Parnell. They have brought 
here stout hearts and willing hands ; and, more than this, 
they have brought with them a valuable element in our 
citizenship, and a tower of strength to the institutions 
which they have made their own. 

The sentiment you have proposed, Mr. President, recog- 
nizes the naturalized citizen as loyal to every duty of 
peace or war. History justifies this recognition. In every 
crisis which the country has been called to face, the citizen 
of foreign birth has been found faithful and devoted. On 
every battlefield of the Revolution, from Bunker Hill to 
Yorktown ; in the war that carried our flag to the capital 
of Mexico and gave us the Californias ; and still more con- 
spicuously in the war for the preservation of the Union, — 
the adopted American proved himself a brave soldier and 
a true citizen. 

Readers of Revolutionary history know how large and 
honorable a share Irishmen had in the sacrifices and vic- 
tories of that birth-struggle of the Republic. It has been 
said of the gallant Richard Montgomery, who joined the 
army of Washington in the gloomy winter of 1775, that 
" a detailed history of his military career would form an 
epitome of our early Revolutionary struggle." The name 
of John Stark, the hero of the battle of Bennington, is 



144 THE TOWN OF DEDHAM. 

closely associated with the same epoch. Major Andrew 
McCleary was not the only Irishman who fought on Bunker 
Hill, though his giant form is one of the most striking 
figures in that famous battle. The name of Carroll, of 
Carrollton, lives forever as one of the signers of the great 
Declaration, of Irish blood and lineage; and we may recall 
that the first printer and publisher of that immortal docu- 
ment was John Dunlap, a native of Ireland and a brave 
officer under Washington. In the same line of Revolu- 
tionary memories we are proud to recount the names of 
Edward Hand, Washington's favorite adjutant-general; of 
Henry Knox, Washington's chief-of-artillery and afterwards 
a member of his cabinet; of Stephen Moylan, another 
of Washington's favorite generals ; of Ephraim Blaine, one 
of Washington's quartermasters, and from whom James 
G. Blaine is descended ; of George Ewing, who shared the 
terrible winter of 1777 with Washington at Valley Forge, 
and whose son was the distinguished Senator Thomas 
Ewing, of Ohio ; of Daniel Morgan, whose skill and valor 
won the battle of the Cowpens, and later helped to defeat 
Burgoyne; of John Sullivan, another of Washington's 
trusty generals, afterwards Governor of New Hampshire, 
and whose brother, James Sullivan, was one of the early 
Governors of Massachusetts ; of James Graham, who com- 
manded in fifteen battles against the King's troops before 
he was twenty-three years of age ; and of John Gibson, 
who fought in all our battles with England, from Trenton 
to Yorktown. 

In the naval combats of the war for Independence Irish 
bravery was not less conspicuous. It was Jerry O'Brien 
who fought and won our first battle on the seas with the 
British John Rogers. The first commodore of the Amer- 
ican navy commissioned by Washington was John Barry, 
the son of a Wexford farmer, who in answer to Lord 
Howe's offer of a bribe of twenty thousand guineas said : 



25OTII ANNIVERSARY. 145 

" I am a poor man, but the King of England has not money 
enough to buy me," David Porter was another Irish 
naval officer of distinction in the same struggle, father 
of another David Porter, who was one of the foremost 
heroes of 181 2, and grandfather of the Admiral David 
D. Porter of our own day. And when we come down 
to the second war with Britain, the names of Andrew 
Jackson and Alexander Macomb in our army, and of 
Decatur, Porter, Blakeley, Rodgers, McDonough, Perry, 
and Stewart in our navy, all bear historic testimony to 
the signal services which men of Irish birth or parent- 
age rendered to the early cause of American liberty. 
This does not exhaust the list by any means ; I have 
merely enumerated a few of the more shining names. 
George Washington Parke Custis, the adopted son of 
General Washington, says: "Of the operatives in war — 
the soldiers I mean — up to the coming of the French, 
Ireland furnished in the ratio of one hundred for one of 
any foreign nation whatever," Well, indeed, may the Irish- 
born citizen of America feel that his patriotism has its 
roots deep down in the deeds of his forefathers, and 
proudly claim that the American flag is his, not merely 
by the right of his own sworn allegiance, but by all the 
sacred associations that cluster around more than a cen- 
tury of partnership in the sacrifices and successes that 
have made America the first nation of the earth. The 
Irishman who could do aught else but love America 
would, in the light of this history, be an unaccountable 
phenomenon. 

We all know how, at the call of Lincoln in a later crisis, 
the ranks of the great armies that poured Southward to 
defend the flag were swollen by thousands upon thousands 
of these men who had learned to love America with a love 
as deep as any that was borne towards her by her native 
sons. The generals of the great war included many a gal- 



146 THE TOWN OF DEDHAM. 

lant man of Irish birth or blood, — Sheridan, Shields, Cor- 
coran, Meagher, and a hundred others whose names I do 
not need to rehearse, because the history of that struggle 
is still fresh in the general recollection. The roll-calls of 
the regiments that followed Grant through the Wilderness, 
marched with Sherman to the sea, rode with Sheridan 
down the valley of the Shenandoah, or stood with Meade 
and Hancock at Gettysburg, bear eloquent testimony to 
the profound and fervent patriotism of the foreign-born 
citizen-soldier. We have the authority of Holy Writ for 
saying that greater love hath no man for another than that 
he lay down his life for him. Nor can there be any greater 
love of country than that which offers itself a willing sac- 
rifice on the altar of her necessity. The good old town of 
Dedham knows how well her adopted citizens kept faith 
with the flag in the nation's hour of need. The monument 
on which she preserves the record of her contribution to 
the long list of heroes who perished that the Republic 
might live, includes the names of many gallant sons of 
Erin, who, loving their adopted land with all the ardor 
with which they loved their own, went forth from the 
workshops, the factories, and the farms of this peaceful 
town and returned no more. 

Speaking now, as I may be permitted to do, more 
especially of our citizens of Irish birth and descent, who 
form about one third of the present population of Dedham, 
I can say for them without boasting that they not only love 
their chosen country, but are deeply attached to the State 
and to this historic town. Their homes are here and all 
their treasures ; and " where the treasure is, there will the 
heart be also." 

It is, perhaps, not suflficiently borne in mind that the 
Irish-American has special and peculiar incentives to the 
love of his adopted country. We appreciate our blessings 
largely by contrast; the boon of liberty is more valued 



25OTH ANNIVERSARY. 1 47 

by those who have lived and suffered where hberty was 
not ; the blessings of free government are estimated more 
nearly at their true value by those who have endured 
the curse of tyranny and oppression. The citizen of Irish 
birth comes here with just such an appreciation of liberty 
and free government; he knows, by bitter experience, 
what it is to be denied the inalienable rights of " life, lib- 
erty, and the pursuit of happiness." Finding here what 
was denied to him in the land of his birth, he naturally 
and rapidly acquires a sincere and ardent attachment to 
the institutions of his adopted land, which in depth and 
intensity far exceeds that of his more favored fellow-citi- 
zens, who never felt the weight of despotic rule. 

It is well that we should not forget that patriotism is 
the child of religion. Love of God involves love of man 
and love of country. Cardinal Manning says : " It is a part 
of our Catholic theology that a man is bound by the gift 
of piety to love his country. . . . Our countrymen are our 
kindred. Their welfare, their peace, their defence, their 
prosperity, ought to be an object of our most hearty, res- 
olute, self-denying, and self-sacrificing devotion. We are 
like men on board ship, — all that are together have one 
common interest; they are all alike in peril or in safety." 
This conception of the moral obligations of the individual 
citizen to the whole community of which he is a part, which 
I quote from the great Catholic prelate of England, is the 
conception which Irishmen carry with them into all lands, 
wherever their lot may be cast. In this spirit I am glad 
to join these commemorative exercises. 

Two centuries and a half is a long period in the annals 
of American civilization. It carries us back to the very 
beginnings of our Continental story. Age gives character 
to communities as well as to individuals. Our town is one 
of the oldest places of settled habitation in New England, 
and the town-meeting — which Adams, I think, calls "the 



148 THE TOWN OF DEDHAM. 

miniature republic" — has given to it a continuous career of 
orderly self-government. It has partaken of the growth 
of the State as a whole, and shared in the changes which 
that growth has brought about. Nevertheless, it has pre- 
served much that was well worth keeping from former 
generations, — a reputation for honesty, integrity, and or- 
der as a community, — and it has successfully blended the 
old with the new; so that we may to-day not only look 
back to the past with satisfaction, but forward to its fu- 
ture with hope. The naturahzed citizen will be, as he 
has already been, an important and a valuable factor in 
that future. I venture the prophecy that he will never 
be found wanting in the performance of his whole duty 
to the township or to the grand old Commonwealth of 
Massachusetts. He realizes fully that whatever makes 
for the welfare and prosperity of either, makes also for his 
welfare and prosperity. 

In behalf, then, of your naturalized fellow-citizens, claim- 
ing with you an equal pride in its honorable past, and 
an equal share with you in the honorable and happy future 
which, if it please God, is yet in store for it, I join you, 
with all my heart, in wishing all good wishes for the 
prosperity of the town of Dedham. 



The President : There is one more toast, and 
only one, — 



The Town of Dedham ! Stable in character, prudent and 
conservative in conduct, she points with pride to two hundred 
and fifty years of steady and unbroken progress ; to every obli- 
gation promptly met ; to her ample treasury and her freedom 
from debt ; to her liberal appropriations for public education ; 
and to her happy, contented, and prosperous inhabitants. 



25OTH ANNIVERSARY. 1 49 

I have the honor of introducing to you, to re- 
spond to this toast,. A. B. Wentworth, Esq., of 
Dedham, one of our board of Selectmen. 



ADDRESS OF ALONZO B. WENTWORTH, ESQ. 

Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen, — I should 
prefer at this late hour to follow the example of Father 
Johnson, and submit my speech to the reporters ; but as 
the representative of the present town government, a few 
words will be pardoned with which to conclude the highly 
satisfactory exercises of this occasion. 

Although Dedham has been shorn of the ample terri- 
torial proportions of 1636, when she extended from Cam- 
bridge to the Providence Plantation, she has preserved 
unsullied the essential elements of the grant to the original 
proprietors. To the adjoining city on the north, and to 
the towns on the east, south, and west, she has given of 
her territory, and contributed to make new municipalities, 
some of which to-day excel her in wealth and population; 
but she has, none the less, maintained in all its fulness her 
character as a well-ordered and progressive community. 

Her duty to the Colony, the Commonwealth, and the 
Republic has been faithfully performed throughout her 
history. The men of Dedham were with Captain Church 
at Mt. Hope, with Sir William Pepperrell at Louisburg, 
among the " embattled farmers " at Lexington and Con- 
cord, with Washington at Valley Forge and Yorktown, with 
McClellan at Antietam, and with Grant at Appomattox. 
She contributed the illustrious name of Horace Mann to 
the cause of education, the eminent services of Haven, 
Metcalf, Colburn, and Wilkinson to the judiciary, and to 
the councils of the Republic Dexter and Dowse and Fisher 
Ames. Through all the changes of two and a half cen- 



150 THE TOWN OF DEDHAM. 

turies her simple town government, with its Selectmen and 
other town officers, has been maintained. Town-meetings 
have been regularly held, where town business is trans- 
acted, appropriations made, town officers elected, and men 
and measures discussed. Indeed, the town government 
alone remains in its original form. 

The Province, Confederation, and Colony are gone; the 
church, which was the counterpart of the old town, has 
been divided ; but the town government remains, a monu- 
ment to the good sense and free spirit of its founders. 
Their brightest anticipations are excelled in the comfor- 
table houses of her thrifty farmers, the extent and variety 
of her industrial pursuits, the beauty of her suburban 
residences, her imposing public buildings, and the material 
prosperity of all her citizens. 

In receiving the congratulations and good wishes of her 
children and grandchildren on this occasion, Dedham, 
without boasting, can say that the purposes of her original 
settlers in organizing popular government have been 
faithfully pursued. If she has been conservative and 
prudent, she has not been obstructive or prudish. Her 
obligations have been faithfully kept; her appropriations 
for schools, highways, and the poor have been ample; 
her devotions to deserving charity have been liberal; 
and no debt with its weight of accumulating interest has 
been allowed to burden her citizens. Her growth has 
been natural and healthy; and, pursuing the simplicity 
of the fathers, she presents to-day the rich fruition of 
the conceptions and hopes of the good and brave men 
who first penetrated the forests and established here a 
settlement. 

It cannot be expected, in the course of nature, that 
many of us will be present at the third centennial, in 1936; 
but I can express no better wish for those who may be 
than that a more abundant measure of prosperity may 



25OTH ANNIVERSARY. I5I 

attend their increasing numbers, — and for the town, that 
her affairs may in the mean time be administered with a 
Hke fidehty and sense of pubHc responsibihty. 

The exercises at the tent closed at 5.30 o'clock, 
the lateness of the hour forbidding other speeches 
which had been expected. The Schubert Club, 
under the direction of Mr. Arthur W. Thayer, 
furnished appropriate music for the afternoon, 
which added much to the enjoyment of the occa- 
sion. 



At two o'clock, p. M., a concert was given by the 
Norwood Band on the Church Green. 

A collation was furnished by the Committee of 
Arrangements to the Cadets, upon Mr. Warren's 
grounds on High Street, during the afternoon, and 
their band gave a complimentary concert to a large 
company of ladies and gentlemen there assembled. 

At iout o'clock, p. M., the Cadet Band gave a 
concert on the Church Green. 

At sunset a national salute was fired and the 
church bells rung, and a concert was given by the 
Norwood Band on the Common. 

At seven o'clock, p. m., a very elaborate display of 
fireworks, under the direction of Mr. George R. 
Johnstone, was made on the Common, followed by 
a general illumination of the town, the burning of 



152 THE TOWN OF DEDHAM. 

tar-barrels, etc. A reception and dance at Memo- 
rial Hall, with music by Baldwin's string band, 
closed the festivities of the day. 



A final meetiijg of the Committee of Arrange- 
ments was held on Saturday, September 25, when 
the thanks of the Committee were tendered the 
Secretary for his efficient and valuable services, and 
the Chairman was requested to extend the cordial 
thanks of the Committee to the Chief-Marshal, 
Orator, and Presidents of the Day, and to the vari- 
ous committees and others who had assisted in the 
very successful celebration. 



THE HISTORICAL COLLECTION. 



" I "HE collection of articles of local and historic 
interest which was displayed in the Unitarian 
Vestry attracted much attention, and proved to be 
one of the most interesting features of the celebra- 
tion. Notwithstanding the short time allowed for 
preparat'on, the Committee were able to present a 
collection of rare merit and value. The response 
to the appeal of the Committee was prompt and 
enthusiastic, and the extent and variety of the col- 
lection was a genuine surprise and a source of 
gratification to a very large number of visitors. 

A prominent feature of the exhibition was the 
representation of an old-fashioned New England 
kitchen, the tasteful and intelligent handiwork of 
some of the young ladies of the Committee, illus- 
trating the primitive habits and simple life of those 
who dwelt in the Dedham of a century ago. 

The Picture Room contained more than forty 
portraits, many of them of rare artistic merit, of 
persons identified with Dedham families. The 
collection of miniatures, photographs, engravings, 
and small paintings in oils and water-colors was 
also large and valuable. 



154 THE TOWN OF DEDHAM. 

The main hall of the building was almost entirely 
filled with a collection of more than a thousand 
specimens of ancient articles, embracing very valu- 
able contributions of Indian and Colonial relics, 
silver, glass, china, plated and wooden ware, chairs, 
furniture, household utensils, embroidery, fancy- 
work, wearing apparel, etc., tastefully arranged and 
displayed, the mere enumeration of which would 
fill many pages of this volume. 

It had been the intention of the Committee in 
charge of the Historic Collection to further mark 
the day of the celebration by planting two trees in 
the rear of the Unitarian Church ; but the season 
proving too early for their safe transplanting, that 
interesting ceremony was necessarily postponed. 
Hon. Theodore Lyman, of Brookline, having gen- 
erously given the Committee two beautiful Norway 
maple-trees, taken from his nursery, they were set 
out under the direction of the Chairman of the 
Committee on the 5th of November. May the 
three hundredth anniversary of the town's incorpo- 
ration find them flourishing in vigor and beauty ! 



REPORT 



COMMITTEE ON HISTORIC TABLETS AND 
MONUMENTS. 



^ I ^HE Committee appointed by the town, to whom was 
-^ assigned the agreeable duty of erecting tablets or 
monuments to mark places and objects of historic inter- 
est, and of restoring and preserving any such existing 
monuments in the town, in the discharge of that duty 
aimed to use the sum placed at their disposal for the 
preservation and perpetuation of such historic objects and 
places as have public and permanent interest. While such 
localities may not be numerous in Dedham, the number 
might with propriety have been extended further, had the 
appropriation been more ample. 

Two historic monuments are dear to the memory of all 
who were either born or reared in Dedham. The old 
brick Powder House " on the great rock in Aaron Fuller's 
land " is a place where several generations of Dedham 
boys and girls have delighted to resort, and whither they 
turn after years of absence to view again the charming 
landscape. The plain unfinished stone which has stood 
in the corner of the court-house yard during the memory 
of those now living has had a mystery about it which 
few could solve, if it has not escaped the observation of 
many who have passed it daily for years. It did not re- 



156 THE TOWN OF DEDHAM. 

quire much deliberation to determine that these monu- 
ments of ante-Revolutionary times were worthy of especial 
attention. The ancient burial-place where reposes the 
dust of all the first generation of Dedham settlers also 
called for some permanent designation. The original 
training-field, known in later times as the " Great Com- 
mon," for the preservation of whose boundaries there has 
been in former times a singular indifi"erence, although it 
is perhaps the only ground in Dedham to which the pub- 
lic have an indisputable right, certainly deserved to be 
marked in such a manner that its original purpose should 
not be wholly forgotten. And finally, the location of the 
first mill and dam has a great interest, since in their 
erection was signally shown the great enterprise and fore- 
sight of the founders of the town. 

To these five places and monuments the Committee 
have been obliged to confine their attention. Bronze tab- 
lets bearing simple historic inscriptions in polished raised 
letters, made by M. H. Mossman, of Chicopee, Mass., have 
been placed on the Powder House and " The Pillar of 
Liberty ; " and a third has been inserted in a stone specially 
selected for the purpose, and placed in the wall of the old 
Parish Burial-Ground. 

The Committee also on the day of the anniversary 
celebration, with a moderate sum drawn from the gen- 
eral appropriation by the authority of the Committee of 
Arrangements, were enabled to designate by temporary in- 
scriptions a number of interesting places where old houses 
and buildings formerly stood, and to give the dates of the 
erection of some prominent houses now standing. A list 
of these will be found at the end of this report. 



25OTH ANNIVERSARY. 1 57 



THE BURIAL-PLACE. 



At the first recorded meeting of the proprietors, Aug. 
18, 1636, before the settlement had been named Dedham 
by the General Court of the Colony, while it was yet called 
by the settlers themselves Contentment, lots were set out 
and measured by Thomas Bartlet to seven persons named, 
each lot containing twelve acres, — all of which was con- 
firmed at this meeting; and from the description of these 
lots in the Book of Grants it appears that the lot of Nicho- 
las Phillips, one of the seven men, was abutted upon 
Charles River towards the north, and the swamp and 
burying-place towards the south, the high street running 
through the same. 

From this record it seems that a lot was set apart as a 
resting-place of the dead before even the homes of the 
living were provided for. Under date of " 6 of y^ 2 Mo. 
1638 " in the first Book of Town Records, — 

" Nicholas Philips and Joseph Kingsbery upon 
other satisfaction in Lands layed out from 
the Towne unto each of them doe laye downe 
each of them to the Towne one p'cell of y^ 
south end of their house Lotts and betwixt 
the same and the swamp thereby as it is 
at p'sent set out for the use of a public 
Buriall place for y*" Towne forever." 

The lot of Joseph Kingsbury was that originally granted 
to Ezekiel Holliman, and by him sold to Joseph Kings- 
bury, and was described in the original grant as 



158 THE TOWN OF DEDHAM. 

" Twelve acres more or lesse as lyeth betweene 
the way (Court St.) leading from the Keye to 
y* Pond towards the East and Nicholas 
Phillips towards the west and butts vpon 
y* said way wynding towards y" North 
and the waye leading to y^ burying place 
(east end of Village Avenue) towards the South, 
the high Street through the same." 



In 1638 Joseph Kingsbury sold to the town a part of 
this lot " for a Seat for a publique Meetinge House," the 
very lot on w^hich the first church now stands. 

The ancient burial-ground is that part of the old ceme- 
tery bounded by Village Avenue on the north, by the 
Episcopal Church land on the east, by what is known as 
the new part added by the late Dr. Edward Stimson on the 
south, while the west line is within or very near the pres- 
ent main driveway from Village Avenue, and contains 
about one acre. 

In 18 1 3, '14, '15, about an acre was added on the west 
by purchases from the estate of John Bullard and from 
Timothy Gay. In 1859 and i860 an important addi- 
tion was made by Dr. Edward Stimson, who purchased 
lands south of the ancient grounds, which he divided into 
lots and conveyed to different persons for burial-lots. After 
the death of Dr. Stimson, his son Frederic J. Stimson, Esq., 
conveyed in 1880 to the town the avenues and paths and 
other open spaces not occupied for burial-lots upon the 
land which his father had purchased and laid out; and in 
1885 a small corner was added by purchase from Mrs. 
Elizabeth S. Adams, not for burial purposes, but for use 
in the care of the grounds. 

The way from the Meeting House to the burial-ground 
(Bullard St.) was laid out in 1664, under the following 
vote : — 



25OTH ANNIVERSARY. 



159 



" It is ordered and granted that a sufficient 
Beere waye one Rodd broade shall be layed 
out upon the West side of the Church Lott 
on that side next M'- Allins house Lott from 
the Meeteing house to the Buriall place and 
that the said buriall place and waye be 
clered from shruffe. 2-1 1-64." 

In 1 67 1 a committee consisting of Leift. Fisher and 
Elea' Lusher " are deputed to enforme themselves so far 
as they well can where the fence should be set about the 
burial-place, and direct Cornellius Fisher to set it up ac- 
cordingly, or who else are concerned in that work." 

The first death recorded in Dedham is that of John 
Fisher, deceased the " i5"'of y^ 5"° 1637." The gravestone 
of the earliest date now standing is that of Hannah Dyar. 
It is a fine specimen of imported dark-blue slate two inches 
and a half thick, and there is also a footstone of the same 
material, with the initials H. D. thereon. The inscription 
on the headstone is as follows : — 




l6o THE TOWN OF DEDHAM. 

This unfortunate young wife, the daughter of William 
and Margaret Avery, was born 27-7-1660, and married 
Benjamin Dyar, 22-3-1677. 

A few years ago the superintendent of the old Copp's 
Hill Burial Ground in Boston discovered beneath the sur- 
face (where, he says, it had doubtless been covered for 
more than a century) a double stone containing an in- 
scription six months older than any other original inscrip- 
tion in the ground. It was erected in memory of the 
grandchildren of William Copp. One inscription bears 
date of 1661, but the other of July 25, 1678, the very 
year of the inscription on the headstone of Hannah 
Dyar above given ; but more remarkable still is the 
marked similarity in the form of the letters and figures 
on these two stones, which are very peculiar, as though 
cut by the same hand. The character and shape of 
the two stones are also similar, except that the Copp's 
Hill stone, being a double stone, is wider; the design 
also is the same. 

The late Dr. Danforth P. Wight, in a very interesting 
paper read before the Dedham Historical Society a few 
years ago, stated that for a long time but four tombs were 
built here, and these at different times. The first was by 
Timothy Dwight, about the year 1700; the second, that 
of Daniel Fisher. The third tomb was built by Samuel 
Dexter after the death of his father, the Rev. Samuel Dex- 
ter, in 175s ; and the fourth is of Edward Dowse, who died 
in 1828. The parish tomb was built in 18 16, and since that 
time the range of tombs connected with it and those on 
the west side have been added. 

The matters concerning the cemetery were recorded on 
the Town Records until the formation of the Second Parish. 
After that time, 1730-31, they were recorded in the Rec- 
ords of the First Parish ; but for the past twenty years or 
more the town has made appropriations to keep this and 



25OTII ANNIVERSARY. 161 

the other cemeteries in town in repair, and has taken the 
whole care thereof. 

In September, 1881, after Brookdale Cemetery had been 
laid out, the Board of Health, under the General Statutes, 
upon the application of the Cemetery Commissioners, 
passed the following regulation : — 

" No interments hereafter shall be made within the limits of the 
Old Parish Burial Ground, or of the grounds added thereto, and 
enclosed therewith, outside the boundary lines of lots, the legal 
title to which is held by individuals, or which are now enclosed or 
marked by bounds and reserved for the exclusive use of families 
for burial purposes." 

This regulation was made because portions of this ceme- 
tery were so over-crowded, and also on account of the impos- 
sibility of providing for the burial of persons outside of lots 
enclosed or reserved in some way for the use of families, 
and for the further reason that in Brookdale Cemetery ample 
provision had been made for all the needs of the town. 

The number of persons buried in this old burial-ground 
is unknown. Here rest the bones of the founders of this 
town, and of the men in the generations following, — citi- 
zens of the town who have been distinguished for their 
acts of charity and devotion to their fellow-men, and for 
love of and labors for the town and for the whole country, 
a record of whose deeds would fill volumes. 

Over the Dwight tomb in the cemetery there had been 
for many years a stone bearing this inscription: — 

Here lyes Intombd the Body of 

Timothy Dwight, Esq' who 

Departed this Life Jan' the 31. 

Anno Domini 1718. 

Aged 88 years. 

This stone, as the inscription indicates, marks the last 
resting-place of Timothy Dwight, who, when a lad of but 



1 62 THE TOWN OF DEDHAM. 

five years of age, came to Dedham with his father, John 
Dwight, among the first settlers, in 1636. Both father and 
son were conspicuous and honored men in their day, and 
their descendants have been in every succeeding genera- 
tion prominent in pubHc affairs and especially identified 
with the educational institutions of the country. 

In the judgment of some of the officers of the Dedham 
Historical Society it seemed desirable that the fact of the 
direct descent of this distinguished family from the first 
settlers of Dedham should be inscribed on this memorial 
stone; and in compliance with their request the following 
appropriate and felicitous inscription, prepared by a mem- 
ber of the family, was cut thereon : — 

The Ancestor 

Of the Dwight family in America : 

A family like himself, 

Truly serious and godly 

Of an excellent spirit ; 

Faithful and upright; 

Among men of renown 

In Church and State, 

In Halls of Learning 

And in War. 

The line of descent from John Dwight to Rev. Dr. 
Timothy Dwight, now President of Yale University, is as 
follows : — 

1. John Dwight, the settler, of Dedham, Mass. 

2. Capt. Timothy Dwight, of Dedham, Mass. 

3. Justice Nathaniel Dwight, of Northampton, Mass. 

4. Col. Timothy Dwight, of Northampton, Mass. 

5. Maj. Timothy Dwight, of Northampton, Mass. 

6. President Timothy Dwight, of New Haven, Conn. 

7. James Dwight, of New Haven, Conn. 

8. President Timothy Dwight, of New Haven, Conn. 



25OTH ANNIVERSARY. 163 

In the wall at the left of the main gate at the entrance 
of the cemetery from Village Avenue, and in front of the 
ancient grounds, the Committee have caused to be placed 
a neat block of Dedham stone unhammered, in which 
has been inserted a bronze tablet with the following 
inscription : — 



THE BURIAL PLACE. 
THIS PORTION SET APART IN 1636. 
ENLARGED IN 1 638. IT WAS 
THE ONLY BURIAL PLACE FOR 
NEARLY A CENTURY. HERE 

WERE BURIED ALLIN ADAMS 
BELCHER DEXTER AND HAVEN 
MINISTERS OF THE CHURCH 
AND ALLEYNE LUSHER DWIGHT 
AND FISHER WITH OTHER 

FOUNDERS OF THE TOWN. 



THE TRAINING-FIELD. 

Several years before the settlement of Dedham, in the 
very infancy of the Colony, the General Court passed an 
order " that every Captaine shall traine his Compaine on 
Saterday in everie weeke ; " and from time to time there- 
after other similar laws were made requiring the settlers to 
become familiar with military practice and discipline, and 
but few were excused from this duty; and so frequently 
were the men called upon to " traynee " that the proprie- 
tors of towns set apart grounds therefor. 

The land set apart in Dedham for that purpose included 
what is now known as the Great Common at the upper 
village. Although the exact date when this lot was first 
used as a training-ground cannot be determined from the 



164 THE TOWN OF DEDHAM. 

record, yet as the law no less than the necessities of the 
situation required them ta train, it seems reasonable to in- 
fer that it was at the very beginning of the settlement, and 
that the place first designated continued to be used ; for 
the records show that in 1637 there was a " trayned band 
organized with Clerk and other officers." In 1644 a grant 
was made to the military company of " two acres more as 
it lyeth on the westerly end of the trayning ground ; " and 
in 1648 a confirmatory grant was made to the company, 
its officers and successors, of the free use of all that parcel 
of land commonly called the training-ground ; and this 
grant provided that the same could not be sold except by 
the consent of the company and the selectmen. In 1677 
a portion was sold off, and in 1687 the town being short of 
funds proposed to sell the training-ground ; but no one 
seemed disposed to pay the price fixed. From 1773 to 
1836 a part of the grounds was used for the almshouse, 
and in the latter year the house and a portion of the land 
were sold by order of the town. Since that time the 
remainder has been improved as a common. 

There is much cause to regret that the town should 
have suffered a street to be laid out directly through this 
lot, thus dividing it into two small lots, instead of allow- 
ing the same to remain as one entire common ; but so it 
is that the people of one generation seem to have widely 
different tastes and views from those of another generation. 
There are but few landmarks left so intimately connected 
with the early settlement of an ancient town, and so sug- 
gestive of the trials and dangers which the first settlers 
endured, as the old training-field. 

That coming generations may not forget the location 
of the training-ground, nor the dangers and hardships 
endured and overcome by the founders of this town 
even from the very beginning, and as a simple memorial 
thereof, the Committee have erected upon the east cor- 



25OTH ANNIVERSARY. 1 65 

ner of the field, at the junction of High Street and Com- 
mon Street, a plain block of Dedhani stone, bearing the 
simple inscription, — 

THE 

TRAINING FIELD 

IN 

1636 

THE FIRST DAM AND MILL. 

The first public enterprise of vital importance to the 
original settlers of Dedham was to provide for a corn-mill, 
Abraham Shaw, one of the original proprietors, undertook 
the work ; and for his aid and encouragement the town as 
early as Feb, 21, 1636-7, passed the following order: — 

" Whereas Abraham Shawe is Resolved to erect a 
Cornemill in our towne of Dedham, we doe grante 
vnto him free liberty see to doe. And for that 
purpose we have nowe assigned Edward AUeyn, 
Samuell Morse, Ezechiell HoUiman, Thomas Bartlet 
& Nicholas Phillips, or any 4 or 3, of them to accom- 
pany him & his workmen to find out a con- 
venient place : And viewe what fitting (timber) 
is about y' place soe found for y' purpose : 
As also to order every thing concerning y^ per- 
fecting of y*^ same." 

We have only to call to mind that the new settlement 
was a considerable distance from the older ones, without 
roads thereto ; that the people had their own houses to 
build, their lands to prepare for cultivation, with the count- 
less other difficulties necessarily incident to such a settle- 
ment, — to understand that the erection of a corn-mill was 
no small undertaking, even with all the encouragement the 
town could give. A month later, March 23, 16^6-2,7, the 
following vote was passed : — 



1 66 THE TOWN OF DEDHAM. 

" Whereas ther hath ben made some proposition by 
Abraham Shawe for y*^ erecting of a Come Mill in 
our Towne We doe nowe graunte vnto y* sayd 
Abraham Sixty Acres of land to belong vnto y' 
sayd Mill soe erected provided allvvayes y' the 
same be a Water Mill, els not We order also 
y* every man y' hath lott w'"^ vs, shall assist 
to breng the Milstones, from Watertowne Mill by 
land vnto y^ boateing place neer M' Haynes his 
farme. It is alsoe further graunted vnto y* 
sayd Abraham y' the sayd grownd & mill soe 
to be builte shal be at his owne disposeing in 
case of sale or other alienation at his pleasure. 
Saveing y' our Towne shall have y" first 
Refusall of it, at such a price as an other man 
wold Realy give for any such alienation accordingly." 

Before Abraham Shaw had accomplished his work he 
died ; but considerable progress had been made, and a plan 
devised by which the mill could be run by water. It was 
a bold enterprise ; but boldness of enterprise was one of 
the leading virtues of the early settlers. They undertook 
a work which would be considered almost impossible now, 
and that was literally to create a water-power by the fol- 
lowing vote passed March 25, 1639, only ten years after 
the settlement at Boston of Governor Winthrop and his 
company : — 

" Ordered y' a Ditch shal be made at a Com'on 
Charge through purchased medowe unto y'' East 
brooke, y' may both be a partition fence in y' 
same : as also may serve for a Course unto a 
water mill : yf it shalbe fownd fitting to set a 
mill upon y* sayd brooke by y^ Judgement of 
a workeman for y' purpose." 

This is the origin of Mother Brook, or Mill Creek as it 
is sometimes called ; and the result accomplished thereby 



25OTII ANNIVERSARY. 1 67 

was to turn a portion of the water of Charles River into 
Neponset River, down a fall sufficient to accommodate 
several large mill privileges. 

On the same day the above vote was passed, the pro- 
prietors made the following proposition to any one who 
would undertake to complete the work which Shaw had 
begun : — 

" Ordered y' yf any man or men will tmdertake 
& erect a water Cornemill shall have given unto 
him see much grovvnd as was formerly 
granted unto Abraham Shawe for y' same 
end & purpose with such other benefitts and priv- 
elidges as he shold have had in all Respects 
accordingly. Provided y' y* sayd Mill doth 
grinde Corne before y"= first of y^ tenth month 
as it is Jntended." 

In order, then, for any one to avail himself of this 
offer it was necessary to have the mill constructed by 
Dec. 10, 1639. 

The person to avail himself of this offer was John Elder- 
kin. The exact date of the completion of the dam and 
mill is unknown, but it was certainly before July 14, 1641 ; 
for on that day a committee of three, consisting of Francis 
Chickering, John Dwight, and Jonathan Fairbanks, was 
appointed to " search out, appoint, determine, and lay out 
a cart-way to our water-mill for a common leading way, 
where they shall by their discretion judge most convenient 
for the town." 

A grant was made to Elderkin of eight acres on the 
south side of the mill-pond, jointly with Nathaniel Whiting, 
for a house-lot. At the same time twenty acres more of 
upland and ten acres of meadow were laid out to him. 
There is no date of this grant, but the next entry on 
the same page of the record is the sale by Elderkin to 
Nathaniel Whiting of half of the mill : — 



1 68 THE TOWN OF DEDHAM. 

" John Elderkin alienateth & selleth to Nathaniell 
Whiteing & his assignes forever his part in the 
land granted for a house Lot to the mill 
with the house and buildings thereon & the 
part of the Dams & ditchings belonging 
to halfe the Mill as appeares by a deed 
dated the 22 of the 9 month 1642." 

The next entry in the record is the sale of the other half 
as follows : — 

" John Elderkin allienateth and selleth to Mr. 
Jn? Allin pastor & Nathan Aldus and John 
Dvvight and to their assignes for ever all 
his rights & interest in the Water Mill 
standing upon the East Brooke in Dedham 
w"* the Mill house dams & workes thereunto 
belonging viz : the one halfe of the sd premises 
And Twenty acres of upland yet to be 
layd out and Ten acres of Meadow not 
yet layd out all which sd premises are 
alienated as followeth : viz : the one halfe 
to M' Jn° Allin one fourth part to Nathan 
Aldus the other fourth part to John Dwight." 

This sale was made also in 1642, as appears by a reference 
in the deed from these grantees to Nathaniel Whiting. 

John Elderkin, according to Savage, soon after left 
Dedham, and after residing in Reading and Providence 
he removed in 1648 to New London, Conn., where he built 
the church and the first mill, and from thence in 1664 to 
Norwich, where he also built the first church and mill. 

By deed dated "29"* 7 Mo. 1649," and recorded in the 
Suffolk Registry of Deeds, Lib. 4, fol. 285, Nathaniel Whit- 
ing acquired from John Allin Pastor, Nathan Aldus, and John 
Dwight all the rights to the mill which they purchased of 
Elderkin ; and Whiting thus became the sole owner. 



25OTH ANNIVERSARY. 1 69 

The town took pains to see that the mill was worked so 
as to accommodate the people, for in 1650 the following 
entry appears on the records : — 

" Severall complaints being made of the 
insufficient p'formance of the worke of y*^ Mille 
Nathaniell Whiteing the Miller being present & 
tendering a refference to issue the grievances by 
twoo men to be chosen by the Towne ; and twoo 
by himselfe. The Towne accepting thereof make 
choice as followeth : 

Eleazer Lusher \ chosen by John Kingsbery ) chosen by 

Nathaniell Coalburne ) y« Towne Geo. Barber ) Nath. Whiteing." 

Upon the death of Nathaniel Whiting, under his will, 
proved in 1683, the mill passed to his wife Hannah ; and 
under her will, proved in 1714, to their son Samuel; and 
under the will of Samuel, proved in 1728, to his son Zacha- 
riah Whiting, who in 1732 conveyed it to Nathaniel Whit- 
ing his cousin (son of Timothy and grandson of the original 
Nathaniel). Nathaniel in 1756 conveyed it to his son 
Joseph Whiting, who in 1804 conveyed the same to his 
son Hezekiah. In the partition of Hezekiah Whiting's 
estate in 1821 this mill privilege was set off to his three 
sons, Joseph, Hezekiah, and Charles, and in 1823 Joseph 
Whiting and the guardian of Hezekiah and Charles, then 
minors, conveyed the same to Jabez Chickering ; and here 
it leaves the Whiting family, in which for so many years it 
had remained. Chickering the same year conveyed to the 
Dedham Worsted Factory, which the following year con- 
veyed to Benjamin Bussey, and in 1843 the executors of 
Bussey's will conveyed the same to John Wiley Edmands, 
and in 1863 Edmands and Colby conveyed this privilege to 
the Merchants' Woollen Company, the present owners. 

At this privilege now stands the large brick mill on 
Bussey Street, the largest in the town. At the time the 



170 THE TOWN OF DEDHAM. 

Merchants' Woollen Company purchased the privilege, the 
dam was nearly under the bridge on Bussey Street, across 
the brook, but below the site of the original dam ; for as 
dams are renewed, or rebuilt, it has generally been the cus- 
tom, when it can be done, to build each new dam a little 
below the old one, so that the position of the dam has 
been several times slightly changed; and in 1874, at the 
time of the change in the line of Bussey Street, the present 
dam was placed a few rods below the old dam, and the 
bridge carried a short distance up stream. All evidence 
upon the land of the site of the original dam has disap- 
peared ; but, fortunately, at the time these recent changes 
were made the foundation of the original dam was discov- 
ered. It extended across the brook from near the west end 
of the south abutment of the present bridge to a point a 
short distance west of the west end of its north abutment. 
In order to mark permanently this very interesting his- 
toric spot, the Committee have, with the consent and hearty 
co-operation of the Merchants' Woollen Company, erected 
upon the company's land on the east side of Bussey Street, 
near the south bank of the brook, a stone, upon which the 
following inscription has been cut: — 

NEAR THIS SPOT 

THE FIRST 

DAM AND MILL 

WERE BUILT 

IN 

1640. 

"THE PILLAR OF LIBERTY." 

It was ascertained, upon careful inquiry, by a tradi- 
tion resting upon the concurrent statements of several per- 
sons of known accuracy and reliability not now living, 
whose memory extended back into the last century, that 



25OTH ANNIVERSARY. I7I 

the Pillar of Liberty was first placed on the corner of 
the Meeting-House Common, at the junction of High 
and Court streets. It is not known when and by whom it 
was removed across Court Street, but it is reasonable to 
infer that it was done in 1828, as the inscription upon 
the northerly face contains the recital, " Replaced by the 
Citizens, July 4, 1828." For this reason the Committee, 
with the assent of the Parish Committee of the Unitarian 
Church, determined to remove the stone to this spot. 

The stone itself, though differing in color and character 
from our Dedham ledge-stone, was no doubt originally 
obtained somewhere between Dedham Village and West 
Dedham, as similar stone can now be found there. Both 
faces bearing the original inscriptions were probably ham- 
mered and smoothed in 1766, although they now present 
uneven surfaces. But on the easterly face there were ob- 
vious tool-marks, showing that an attempt at some time had 
been made to sink a panel, which perhaps was abandoned 
by reason of the hardness of the stone. The Committee 
decided not to touch the sides bearing the inscriptions, 
except to bring out the letters by painting them. It would 
have been practically impossible to recut the letters with- 
out sacrificing their form, which was peculiar to Colonial 
times ; the hardness of the stone would prevent any suc- 
cessful result from such an attempt. At the celebration of 
1836 the letters were made legible by renewing them with 
black paint, which will explain the allusion in Mr, Haven's 
address ; ^ but this was washed out by the storms of a quar- 
ter of a century. The Committee are assured that the 
brown paint now used will last much longer ; it was obtained 
from Concord, where it has been used for a similar pur- 
pose. Following the suggestion of a panel on the east- 
erly face, a bronze tablet has been inserted, bearing the in- 
scription hereafter given. The stone has been set upon 
1 Haven's Centennial Address, 1836, p. 43. 



172 THE TOWN OF DEDHAM. 

a deep foundation and surrounded by a curb of blue stone 
firmly bedded. 

The story of this monumental stone is interesting and 
instructive, and can be told with historic certainty. It is 
the memorial of so brief a period in the years just preced- 
ing the American Revolution, that it is easy to miss its 
full significance. The Stamp Act, the first of the oppres- 
sive parliamentary measures, was passed March 22, 1765. 
The news of its passage fired the hearts of the people of 
Boston and the surrounding towns with intense indignation. 
It was the subject of frequent town-meetings. The Stamp 
Commissioner was forced to resign, and a mob sacked the 
house of Lieutenant-Governor Hutchinson. The act was 
to take effect Nov. i, 1765. That day in Boston was ush- 
ered in by the tolling of bells and the display at half-mast 
of the flags of the vessels in port; the English ministers 
were hung in effigy; business was practically suspended; 
the courts were compelled to proceed without stamped 
paper as the act required, because none was permitted to 
be sold ; and all the officers of the Province were obliged 
to disregard the requirements of the act. 

Meantime the friends of America in the English Parlia- 
ment had been constantly laboring for the repeal of the 
Stamp Act. Foremost among these w^as William Pitt, 
afterward the Earl of Chatham. It was he who main- 
tained that " America being neither really nor virtually 
represented in Westminster, cannot be held legally or con- 
stitutionally or reasonably subject to obedience to any 
money bill of the kingdom." The Stamp Act was repealed 
March 18, 1766, and the news was received in Boston 
on the 1 6th of the following May. The repeal was hailed 
with the greatest demonstrations of joy. A day (May 19) 
was set apart for general rejoicing, in which the booming 
of cannon, the ringing of bells, the decoration of houses 
and steeples with flags and streamers, and the release of 



25OTH ANNIVERSARY. I 73 

prisoners confined for debt, testified the popular feeling. 
In the evening there was an illumination of the houses, and 
a display of fireworks on the Common, excelling anything 
of the kind before seen in New England. A wooden obelisk 
was erected under the Liberty Tree, on the four sides of 
which were allegorical representations designed and exe- 
cuted by Paul Revere. This unfortunately took fire from 
the lanterns upon it the same night, and was consumed. 

In all these stirring events the towns around Boston 
were in full sympathy. In Dedham, the Sons of Liberty 
prepared to mark the event by a permanent memorial. 
Dr. Nathaniel Ames, the younger, was an ardent patriot 
and a leader. He records in his diary that May 21, five 
days after the news of the repeal arrived, the stone-cutter 
was at work on the Pillar of Liberty. From entries in 
the same diary it appears that for eleven or twelve days 
in May, June, and July stone-cutters were thus employed. 
On June 30 he records, " Daniel Gookin turns the Pillar 
of Liberty." This was a wooden column about ten or 
twelve feet high, which rested upon the stone as a pedestal. 
On the 14th of July the Sons of Liberty voted to raise 
the Pillar on July 22. It was raised on that day, in the 
words of Dr. Ames, " in the presence of a vast concourse 
of people." The Pillar was painted on the 28th of the 
same month. 

Before the Pillar was raised an effort was made to sur- 
mount it with a bust of William Pitt, as appears by the 
following entry in Dr. Ames's diary of 1766: — 

"July 2. Went to Boston. Bespoke Pitt's Head for Pillar 
of Liberty." 

But the bust was not procured upon this request. For 
another entry in the same year is as follows : — 

" Dec. 15. Sons of Liberty met. Agree to have Pitt's 
Head." 



174 THE TOWN OF DEDHAM. 

Dr. Ames writes Feb. 15, 1767, that he "went to Boston 
with Mr. Haven and Battle. Spoke Pitt's bust of Mr. 
SkilHng." 

This Mr. Skilling was a well-known wood-carver of that 
day, who executed similar busts and figures to adorn the 
entrances of some fine houses in Boston. Finally, Feb- 
ruary 26, Dr. Ames again went to Boston, and " brought , 
the bust of Pitt for the Pillar of Liberty." 

The original inscriptions in Latin and English were un- 
doubtedly composed by Dr. Ames. He was accustomed 
to make entries in Latin in his diary, and the style of the 
English is characteristic. He writes : " Aug. 6. Howard 
altered erepsit into eviilsit" traces of which alteration are 
now discernible. 

It strikes one strangely, perhaps, to find on this stone, 
erected by the Sons of Liberty, an expression of satis- 
faction that their loyalty to King George HL had been 
confirmed by the repeal of the Stamp Act. But it must 
not be forgotten that it was then ten years before the 
Declaration of Independence, and if any entertained the 
thought of independence as a contingency which might 
occur, certainly no one avowed it. The patriots fondly 
indulged the hope, rather, that in the repeal of the Stamp 
Act all their trials were ended, and that the oppressive 
policy of the British ministers toward America had been 
reversed. But their joy was short-lived, and by the pas- 
sage of the act imposing a duty upon tea and other articles 
passed in June, 1767, the series of measures was continued 
which brought on the Revolution. 

As the conflict approached, the Pillar of Liberty nat- 
urally ceased to be an object of interest. Dr. Ames 
records, "May 11, 1769. The Pillar of Liberty was over- 
thrown last night." Perhaps this was due to the revulsion 
in popular feeling. It is not certain that it was afterward 
replaced. But there were those living not many years 



25OTH ANNIVERSARY. I 75 

since who remembered in the last decade of the eighteenth 
century both pillar and bust lying upon the ground, and 
the latter being kicked about by the boys of that period. 
It is certain that no one took pains to preserve them, and 
they are now irrecoverably lost. 

We may, however, now feel assured that this historic 
stone which stands to-day as the memorial of ante-Revolu- 
tionary times is so securely placed that on the ter-cente- 
nary of the incorporation of Dedham it will still remain in 
good preservation to testify to the patriotism of 1766, and 
to its grateful appreciation in 1886. 

The following are the inscriptions now upon the stone, 
given in the chronological order of their being placed 
upon it: — 



T Ke Tillar of Liberty 

Erccid bytKe Sons of iJLerty 

mihis ^^cJnlt)r 

Laus DEO REdijetimmunitair 
autonbuscfmaximeiabono 
Pi t Tf Cfii RcmpuL .ncrfinae vulfit. 
Faucjijus Orel 

Inscription of 1766 

[westerly face.] 



1^6 THE TOWN OF DEDHAM. 



Tke Fillar of Liberty 
To BicHonorof Wiut.'TPiTrEfcj? 
9i' oilier Ev.TRioT5 'wKo faved 
AMERTCAtVomimpencling Slave 
ry,vconfmn<l ourxnoft loyal 
Affecijoiv^K^GEORGBlff Ly pro 
curing aRepealoftlie5'tampJL;t, 



Inscription of 1766 

[northerly face.] 



Erected liei-e Jnly S2,1766, 
by Doctr Katk^-Ames ^'jf 
CoL Ebenr Batfcle,Maj ALfjali 

ia fKeJlJ^Kis of ihc Colonies at 
tBai day 
Heplaced ByiKe Citjzeiis 



Inscription of 1828 

[northerly face.] 



25OTII ANNIVERSARY. 



177 



THIS STONE WAS FIRST 
PLACED NEAR THIS SPOT 
JULY 22, 1766. IT SUPPOR- 
TED A WOODEN COLUMN 
SURMOUNTED BY A BUST 
OF WILLIAM PITT. 

BOTH COLUMN AND BUST 
DISAPPEARED ABOUT THE 
CLOSE OF THE LAST CEN- 
TURY. THE STONE WAS 
REMOVED FROM THE OP- 
POSITE CORNER IN 1886. 



Inscription on Tablet of 1886 

[easterly face.] 



THE POWDER HOUSE. 

The Powder House upon examination was found to be 
in a state of partial dilapidation, though its walls and curved 
oaken rafters were in a sound condition. In repairing and 
restoring it, the original design has been adhered to as 
closely as possible. The shingles have been replaced by 
new ones of the best quality, painted on both sides and laid 
when dry ; a new solid door, having strap hinges and a 
padlock, has been put in ; the oak threshold has been 
replaced ; all the wood exposed to the weather has been 
painted ; the brick walls have been pointed anew where 
practicable, and well oiled ; a bronze tablet has been in- 
serted in the front wall bearing the following inscription : 

THE POWDER HOUSE 

BUILT BY THE TOWN 

1766. 



178 THE TOWN OF DEDHAM. 

The Powder House, as the quaint little brick structure 
which crowns the great rock near Charles River has been 
called since its erection in 1766, is better known to the 
people of Dedham than any other spot within her borders. 
It is not the " stern round tower of other days " from which 
bards in classic lands have drawn inspiration ; neither has 
it been the scene of any great historic event. It is a plain 
building, erected by plain people, for a practical purpose, 
but little more than a hundred years ago ; yet so thor- 
oughly is it identified with the social life of this community 
that it has come to be regarded as almost a sacred spot, 
dear not only to the present dwellers in the village, but to 
the sons and daughters of Dedham now scattered through- 
out the length and breadth of the land. 

The Powder House was not built, as many have sup- 
posed, with any reference to its use during the Revolution- 
ary War, though doubtless it well answered the purpose 
of keeping the Provincial powder dry in those days when 
ammunition was well-nigh worth its weight in gold. But 
in 1766 there was no expectation of independence of the 
mother country, and but little desire for separation ex- 
pressed on the part of the Colonists. The public sentiment 
that produced the violent disruption of the ties that had so 
long existed between Great Britain and her American Col- 
onies was the quick growth of the following years. It, 
too, may well be doubted whether the natural beauty of 
the location entered at all into the calculations of the 
builders. The Powder House was constructed in those 
days when everything was sacrificed to convenience and 
utility, in compliance with a long-felt desire that the public 
ammunition should be stored in some public place, and not 
subjected to the risk and inconvenience of being kept on 
private premises. 

But a few years after the settlement of the town, in mak- 
ing provision for the common defence the storage of the 



25OTII ANNIVERSARY. I 79 

town's ammunition became a question of much importance. 
The first mention of the matter which we find in the Town 
Records is contained in the following entry: — 

"3 of II mo. 1652. 

" At a general meeting of the Towne the Selectmen are desired 
to issue the case concerning the barrell of powlder delivered to 
Ensign Phillips." 

The next entry on the subject is as follows : — 

"Assemb. 28, 12 Mt. 1661. 

" Timothy Dwight is requested to procure a barrill of Powder to 
Exchange that barrel that nowe is in the Town Store ; & what it 
doe a mount to more than the ould powder is really wourth to 
him, the Towne is to make good to him." 

Nearly a century later we find the following entries on 
the Town Records : — 

"May 15, 1745. 

" Voted, if it be the mind of the Town to choose a Committee 
to procure a Stock of Ammunition by Calling in what is lent out 
and procuring what is wanting. 

"Voted in ye affirmative. 

" Mr. Isaac Bullard, Mr. Samuel Richards, Maj. Eliphalet Pond, 
Committee." 

"Feb. 24'!^ 1746-7. 

"The Committee chosen to procure a stock of Ammunition for 
ye Town make return. That they have laid out one hundred and 
twenty five pounds old Tenor and have Procured two barrells of 
Powder and Six Duzon of Flints & about one hundred and a quar- 
ter of Bullets." 

The following entries in the Town Records afford the 
only information we possess as to who was the custodian 
of this important item of town property : — 

"May 27, 1755. 

" Paid to Mr. Isaac Bullard for his care and labor about the 
Town Stock of Powder, 6 shillings. 

"May 22, 1759. To Isaac Bullard for Taking Care of the 
Powder, 5s. 4d." 



l8o THE TOWN OF DEDHAM. 

The first vote on the subject of building a house for the 
storage of ammunition which we find on the Town Records 
is as follows : — 

"March ist, 1762. 

" It was put to the Town to see if the Town will build a Powder 
house. Voted in the affirmative, and then the Town voted to refer 
the further consideration of said powder house to next May 
meeting." 

At the May meeting it was voted upon, as the following 
extract from the Record will show : — 

"May 18, 1762. 

" Voted to have the Powder house builded on a great Rock in 
Aaron Fuller's land near Charles River. Also The Town made 
Choice of Capt. Eliphalet Fales, Mr. Daniel Gay, & Mr. Ebenr 
Kingberry a Committee to Build Said House." 

It is evident that this committee took no action in the 
matter intrusted to them, as in the warrant for the May- 
meeting in 1764 appears the following article: — 

"Sixthly, To Know the Mind of the Inhabitants, where the 
Town's Stock of Powder &c. Shall be lodged." 

At the town-meeting it was "Voted to refer the Sixth 
article in the Warrant respecting the Town's Stock of 
Powder &c. to next March Meeting." 

But it was not until the next May meeting that the town 
voted on the question, as will be seen by the following 
record : — 

"May 20, 1765. 

"The town having at their meeting on the l8'^ day of May, 
1762, voted to build a Powder House on a Great Rock in Aaron 
Fuller's Land near Charles River and appointed a Committee for 
that purpose, and said Committee not having complied with the 
Request of the Town respecting that Business, the Town did at 
this Meeting Vote to join Two more Persons to said Committee, 
and did direct them to get Said House erected — To be Eight 



25OTH ANNIVERSARY. 181 

Feet Square on the outside and Six Feet high under the Plates, 
the Materials to be Brick and Lime Mortar. Then Deacon Na- 
' thaniel Kingsbury and Capt. David Fuller were chose for the other 
Two Committee Men." 

But the work proceeded slowly, as the first evidence of 
any action taken on the part of the committee is found in 
the following entry in the town books : — 

"Nov. 12, 1765. 

" To Capt. David Fuller, three pounds four shillings to purchase 
materials for building a Powder House." 

Although the Town Records afford no direct evidence 
as to the beginning of the erection of the Powder House, 
the recently discovered diary of Dr. Nathaniel Ames, the 
younger, contains the following entry, it being the only 
allusion to the matter which can be found in its ample 
pages : — 

"June 7'^ 1766. Powder House begun in Dedham." 

From this record of Dr. Ames, and the fact that the 
builders began to receive pay for their work early in 
1767, we infer that the building was begun and finished 
in 1766. 

In the town treasurer's books we find the following 
entries : — 

"March 2, 1767. 

"To Ebenezer Kingsbury for Timber & Boards & Carting 
Bricks for the Powder House, j£i. 14s. 8d." 

"March 20, 1767. 

"To Ebenezer Shepard, one pound, Eighteen Shillings & four 
pence three farthings, for Work done on the Powder House." 

" April 6, 1767. 

" To Capt. David Fuller, Three pounds, Eight Shillings Eleven 
Pence & three Farthings in part of acct. for Materials & work for 
the Powder House and Boarding the Workmen." 



1 82 THE TOWN OF DEDHAM. 

"May 28, 1767. 

"To Capt. David Fuller, Two pounds and three pence three 
farthings in full for Materials and Work for the Powder House & 
Boarding Workmen." 

The last entry concerning the erection and use of the 
Powder House in the town books is the following : — 

"Feb. 26, 1768. 

"To Capt. David Fuller, one Shilling and Two Pence half- 
penny for removing the powder &c. to the Powder House Last 
Spring." 

This order, which was drawn Nov. 16, 1767, taken in 
connection with the entries before quoted, proves conclu- 
sively that the Powder House was erected in 1766, and 
was first used in the spring of 1767. 

In these days of costly public and private buildings it 
is an interesting fact to know that the total expense in- 
volved in the construction of this historic edifice amounted 
to £12. 6s. 4d. if., from which it may be safely inferred 
that neither architect nor contractor had any part in its 
erection. Only once since its erection has the old house 
been threatened with destruction. In 1859, the building 
being sadly out of repair, an attempt was made to secure its 
removal by the town ; but the opposition to this measure 
was so strong that it resulted in the insertion of the follow- 
ing articles in the warrant for the April town-meeting : — 

" 8'^ To see if the town will appropriate a sum not exceeding 
fifty dollars, to repair and preserve the Powder House, on Powder 
House Rock. 

" 9'!" To see if the town will sell or otherwise dispose of the 
Powder House, on Powder House Rock." 

At this meeting, the town having refused to expend any 
money in repairs, Article 9 in the warrant was dismissed, 
with the understanding that the necessary work involved 
in repairing the house would be done by private subscrip- 



25OTII ANNIVERSARY. 183 

tion, which in the course of a few weeks was satisfactorily 
accomphshed. 

This picturesque relic of Colonial times, with more than 
a century of sacred associations clustering thickly about 
it, and overlooking one of the loveliest of landscapes, is 
warmly commended to the watchful and fostering care of 
those who in the years to come shall fill our places and 
improve upon our work, 

ERASTUS WORTHINGTON, 

HENRY O. HILDRETH, 

DON GLEASON HILL, 

Committee. 
Dedham, Sept. 21, 1886. 



HISTORIC HOUSES AND PLACES 

DESIGNATED BY TEMPORARY INSCRIPTIONS, SEPT. 21, i5 



THE AVERY OAK. 

'HT^HIS ancient white-oak tree is doubtless older than the 
■^ settlement of the town. It is still a vigorous tree, and 
it was chosen as an emblem of the age and vigor of the 
town, to be placed upon its corporate seal. It stands on 
East Street, in front of the site of the Avery House, one 
of the oldest houses of the town, which was taken down 
in 1885. An offer of seventy dollars was made for its 
timber in building the old frigate " Constitution." This 
tree was given by Mr. Joseph W. Clark to the Dedham 
Historical Society, by a deed of conveyance, June 29, 1886, 
with the purpose and on the condition that it be carefully 
preserved in the years to come. 



THE FAIRBANKS HOUSE. 

This picturesque old house with its antique furniture is 
an object of great interest to its many visitors. The date 
of its erection is not known from any historic record. For 
many reasons, however, which might be adduced, it is 
believed not to have been one of the rude houses of the 
first settlers; for all these disappeared in the first cen- 



1 86 THE TOWN OF DEDHAM. 

tury. This house probably was not built earlier than 1664, 
though it may have been built before Philip's War. The 
land, however, on which it stands, from the time of its 
allotment to Jonathan Fairbanks in 1637, has remained in 
the hands of his descendants. Jonathan Fairbanks the 
progenitor died Dec. 5, 1668. 

Mr. Fairbanks came to Boston in 1633 from Sowerby, 
in Yorkshire, England. He was admitted and subscribed 
to the Covenant, March 23, 1637. Through John, Joseph, 
Ebenezer, Ebenezer 2d, and his three daughters — Prudence, 
Sally, and Nancy — the house has come into the possession 
of its present owner and occupant. Miss Rebecca Fair- 
banks, who is of the seventh generation in direct descent 
from Jonathan. 

The small wing with a gambrel-roof on the side toward 
East Street was added to the house when Ebenezer Fair- 
banks, born Jan, 5, 1758, and married March 3, 1777, 
became of age, or at the time of his marriage. Though 
additions have from time to time been made to the house, 
the main structure is perhaps the same that Jonathan Fair- 
banks, the first of the name in Dedham, built for the use 
of his family. 

HOUSES OF THE MINISTERS OF THE DEDHAM 
CHURCHES. 

Tradition assigns to a spot near the present Orthodox 
Congregational Church the site of the house of John AUin, 
the revered first minister of the church; and that Mr. 
Adams afterwards occupied the same house is a well- 
known fact. The house built by Rev. Mr. Belcher, the 
third minister of Dedham, and afterwards occupied suc- 
cessively by Dexter and Haven, the fourth and fifth 
ministers, and in which they all died, stood near the 
site of the church ; it was taken down about the time 



25OTH ANNIVERSARY. 1 87 

the new church was built in 18 19. It is an interesting 
fact that we are thus able to identify, with a reasonable 
degree of certainty, the dwelling-places of the first five 
ministers of the Dedham Church, covering a period of 
more than one hundred and sixty years. 

THE HOUSE OF TIMOTHY DWIGHT, THE ANCESTOR 
OF THE DWIGHT FAMILY IN AMERICA. 

This house stood on the east side of East Street, a few 
feet northwest of the northerly abutment of the railroad 
bridge, on land granted by the proprietors in the first allot- 
ments made to John Dwight, the father of the first Timothy, 
who erected the house. Both father and son were for many 
years prominent in Dedham affairs. Timothy Dwight died 
in 171 8, at the age of eighty-eight. 

In 1664 a valuation of the houses in town was recorded, 
in which the house of Timothy Dwight appeared by far 
the most valuable in the town at that time. The house 
was taken down about 1849, when the West Roxbury 
Branch of the Boston and Providence Railroad was built. 
It was once owned and occupied as a place of business by 
Benjamin Bussey. 

THE DEXTER HOUSE. 

This fine mansion was built about the year 1765 by 
Samuel Dexter. He was the son of Rev. Samuel Dexter, 
fourth minister of the Dedham Church, and was born in 
Dedham in 1726. He entered mercantile life at an early 
age, and having acquired considerable property came 
Nov. 4, 1762, to reside in his native town, where for many 
years he exercised great influence, and held many impor- 
tant offices in the church and the town. Mr. Dexter was 
a representative in the General Court for several years. 



1 88 THE TOWN OF DEDHAM. 

was five years a delegate to the Provincial Congress, was 
a member of the Supreme Executive Council of the State, 
and was active in directing military operations at the 
beginning of the Revolutionary War. He was deeply in- 
terested in the cause of education, and was a frequent 
benefactor of the schools of Dedham, and in recognition 
of the service which he had rendered, his name was given 
to the school at the Upper Village. On the death of his 
wife in 1784 he removed to Mendon, where he died 
June 10, 1 8 10, in the eighty-fifth year of his age. In his 
will he bequeathed five thousand dollars to found the 
Dexter Professorship in Harvard College. 

Mr. Dexter was the father of Samuel Dexter, the third of 
the name, and the distinguished lawyer and statesman, who 
was born during his father's residence in Boston, but who 
came to Dedham when but a year old, where he remained 
during his boyhood and until his entrance to Harvard Col- 
lege in 1777, from which institution he was graduated in 
1781. Until his sudden death in 1816 he was one of the 
most distinguished men in public life, having been a Sena- 
tor and Representative in Congress, Secretary of War and 
Secretary of the Treasury during the administration of the 
elder Adams. 

After the removal of Samuel Dexter, 2d, from Dedham 
in 1784, the house was successively occupied by Dr. John 
Sprague, Samuel Swett, and others, and for several years 
past has been owned and occupied by the family of the 
late Dr. Ebenezer G. Burgess. 

HOUSE OF DR. NATHANIEL AMES. 

This house was built in 1772 by Dr. Nathaniel Ames, 2d, 
and was occupied by him until his death, July 21, 1822, at 
the age of eighty-one years. It is now owned and occu- 
pied by Dr. J. P. Maynard. Dr. Ames was the elder 



25OTH ANNIVERSARY. 1 89 

brother of Fisher Ames, of whom he was in politics a vio- 
lent opponent. He was first clerk of the courts of Nor- 
folk County, and a physician in large practice. Dr. Ames 
was a son of Dr. Nathaniel Ames, known as the almanac 
maker, who removed from Bridgewater to Dcdham in 1732, 
and published almanacs from 1726 to 1765. His son, Dr. 
Nathaniel Ames, 2d, continued the same some ten years 
afterward. He was a brother of Fisher Ames, and brother- 
in-law of Jeremiah Shuttleworth, the first postmaster, hav- 
ing married Meletiah Shuttleworth. By his will his estate 
passed to his niece, Hannah Shuttleworth, and by her will 
many interesting documents pass to the Dedham Histori- 
cal Society, including a diary kept by Dr. Ames from 
the time he was in college, 1758, to the time of his death 
in 1822. 

HOUSE OF FISHER AMES. 

This house, now owned by Mr. F. J. Stimson, has been 
so enlarged and reconstructed that it bears no resemblance 
to the mansion completed by Fisher Ames in 1795- Still, 
the frame of that house is in the main portion of the pres- 
ent structure, and the form of the drawing-rooms remains. 
The Ames mansion was a square house, having a hip roof 
with a balustrade. It had capacious outbuildings, and a 
carriage-house with a high-arched doorway. Here Fisher 
Ames lived until his death, July 4, 1808. His widow and 
family continued to live in it for many years ; but after the 
death of John Worthington Ames, the eldest son, in 1833, 
several of the children having died previously, Mrs. Ames 
went to reside with her son, the late Judge Seth Ames, 
then a practising lawyer in Lowell. The house was 
afterward owned and occupied for a short time by Gen. 
William Gibbs McNeill, who was the chief engineer in 
the construction of the Boston and Providence Railroad. 



190 THE TOWN OF DEDHAM. 

It was next owned and occupied by Elisha Turner, but 
after his death it was sold to John Gardner, who occupied 
it for many years, and in his hands the estate under- 
went many changes, the houses on both sides having 
been built by him. Finally, in 1868 it came into the hands 
of Edward Stimson, who so remodelled, enlarged, and 
enriched the house by costly improvements as completely 
to transform its appearance. 



THE HAVEN HOUSE. 

Samuel Haven, who in 1795 built the stately mansion 
now owned by Mr. John R. Bullard, was born in Dedham, 
April 3, 1 77 1. He was the son of Rev. Jason and Cath- 
erine Haven, was graduated at Harvard College in 1789, 
and studied law with Fisher Ames, of Dedham, and with 
his cousin, Samuel Dexter, in Boston. On the formation 
of Norfolk County in 1793, he was appointed Register of 
Probate. In 1802 he was commissioned as a Justice of the 
Court of Common Pleas, and in 1804 was appointed Chief 
Justice, which office he held until 181 1, when the court was 
abohshed. Mr. Haven continued in the office of Register 
of Probate until 1833, ^ period of forty years, but retired 
almost wholly from legal practice when he resigned, and 
not long after removed to Roxbury, where he continued 
to reside with his daughter until his death, which occurred 
Sept. 4, 1847, at the age of seventy-six years. Judge 
Haven's intellectual tastes were for theology rather than 
law ; but the chief occupations of practical interest to him 
were horticulture and architecture. He spent much time 
and money in the construction of his house, and the laying 
out and embellishment of the grounds, making it one of 
the most beautiful estates in Norfolk County. The vener- 
able and beautiful English elms standing in front of the 
house were set out by Judge Haven in 1789, the year in 



25OTH ANNIVERSARY. I9I 

which he was graduated from college. In 1844 he sold 
the house to the late Freeman Fisher, who occupied it 
until 1854, when it passed into the possession of the late 
John Bullard, and thence into the hands of the present 
owner, who has done much still further to beautify and 
adorn it. 



THE DOWSE HOUSE. 

This beautiful estate, now owned and occupied by Dr. 
Henry P. Quincy, was probably built very early in the 
present century by Edward Dowse, who was born in 
Charlestown in 1756, and who during his early life was 
engaged in commerce in China and the East Indies. He 
married Sarah, daughter of Hon. William Phillips, of Boston. 
Mr. and Mrs. Dowse left Boston at the time of the yellow 
fever in 1797, and went for a few weeks' residence to the 
old house on the Sprague Farm at Dedham Low Plain. 
The owner having occasion to use the house, Mr. Dowse 
came to the village, and purchasing land on both sides of 
High Street, built this house, — living, until it was ready 
for occupancy, in a smaller one standing near the present 
front gate, and which was afterward removed to the upper 
village. These narrow quarters did not limit the hospi- 
tality in which he delighted, and he used to entertain the 
principal members of Boston society there at dinner, 
though the company had to sit on the stairs and on the 
bed in one of the rooms while the table was laid in the 
other. 

The clock on the steeple of the meeting-house of the 
First Parish was the gift of Mr. Dowse and his wife and 
her sister, in giving which they said that they wished to 
give something to the town which would benefit all sects 
and parties alike. 

The late Edmund Quincy, the grand-nephew of Mr. 



192 THE TOWN OF DEDHAM. 

Dowse, and who subsequently became the owner of the 
property, in his admirable biography of his father, Josiah 
Quincy, gives the following interesting reminiscences of 
Mr. Dowse and his family : — 

" Mrs. Dowse and her sister, Mrs. Shaw, were twins, and so 
closely resembled each other as to be undistinguishable, the one 
from the other, by their nearest friends, excepting by a slight dif- 
ference of dress. The country people around were accustomed to 
speak of the three as ' Mr. Dowse and his two wives.' Yet they 
never spoke of them but with love and gratitude ; for their bounty 
was only limited by their means, and their charity neither begun 
nor stayed at home. Any Life of my father would be imperfect with- 
out a tribute of affectionate remembrance to those beloved rela- 
tives, and, least of all, any written by me, who am daily reminded 
of them by the roof that shelters me, by the trees they planted, and 
by the river that they loved. . . . Mrs. Dowse and Mrs. Shaw did 
not change to the end of their lives the fashion of the dress of 
their prime ; and they remained until long into this century in 
look and manner examples of the gentlewomen of the pre-Revolu- 
tionary period." 

Mr. Dowse was elected to Congress from this district as 
a Democrat in 1819, but disliking life at Washington, he 
resigned at the close of the long session and returned to 
Dedham. He died here in 1828, in the seventy-third year 
of his age. Mrs. Shaw died in 1833 and Mrs. Dowse in 
1839, when the estate passed into the possession of their 
nephew, Hon. Josiah Quincy, and thence into that of his 
son, the late Edmund Quincy. Mr. and Mrs. Dowse and 
Mrs. Shaw were buried in the Dowse tomb in the village 
cemetery, and on the monument covering their remains 
Mr. Quincy, the elder, inscribed a touching tribute to their 
worth. 

Mr. Edmtmd Quincy came with his family from Boston 
to reside in this house in 1840, and remained here until his 
death, which took place May 17, 1877, in the seventieth 
year of his age. Mr. Quincy was an accomplished and 



25OTH ANNIVERSARY. 1 93 

elegant scholar, a brilliant writer, an earnest advocate of 
the abolition of slavery, a good neighbor and citizen. His 
memory will long be cherished in our midst. 

THE SHUTTLEWORTH HOUSE. 

This house stood at the junction of High and Church 
streets. It was built by Jeremiah Shuttleworth, the first 
postmaster of Dedham, and here the post-office was kept 
for more than forty years. For many years afterward it 
was owned and occupied by his daughter Hannah. At 
her decease, in the early part of the present year, she be- 
queathed the house, land, and ten thousand dollars to the 
Dedham Historical Society. The house has been removed, 
and upon the lot a substantial fire-proof brick building will 
soon be erected by the Society. 

THE WOODWARD TAVERN. 

On the estate formerly owned by Fisher Ames, near the 
corner of High and Ames streets, formerly stood the Ordi- 
nary, or Tavern, first kept by Joshua Fisher and his descen- 
dants from 1658 to 1730; by Dr. Nathaniel Ames, Sr., " the 
Almanack maker," from 1735 to 1764; known as Ames's 
Tavern to 1772, afterward as Woodward's Tavern. Here 
the Sufifolk Convention assembled Sept. 6, 1774. Here 
Fisher Ames was born, 1758. The house was demolished 
in 1817. 

From the early settlement and until a very recent period 
the Tavern was a recognized and, it may be said, an 
Ordinary institution of Dedham. But Woodward's Tav- 
ern became historic, not merely as having been the birth- 
place of Fisher Ames and the dispensary of good cheer, 
but as having been the place where the famous Sufifolk 
Convention was organized Sept. 6, 1774, to which Dedham 
sent five delegates. A large committee was chosen to 



194 THE TOWN OF DEDHAM. 

prepare resolutions, and the convention then adjourned to 
meet at the house of Daniel Vose, in Milton, where on 
Friday, Sept. 9, 1774, Gen. Joseph Warren reported to the 
convention the Suffolk resolutions which he had drafted. 
They were read several times and unanimously adopted. 

"Those who now or in after times shall examine the journal of 
the earliest Continental Congress in search of the first recorded 
resolution to try the issue with Great Britain, if need be at the point 
of the sword, will find the doings of this convention entered at 
length upon its pages, appearing as the medium through which the 
object of their assembling was first presented to their deliberations, 
and serving as the basis of their subsequent proceedings. The 
house of Richard Woodward most of us remember. In it was 
born Fisher Ames. Was it not the bu-thplace of the American 
Revolution?"^ 

Site of the First Meeting-House, built in 1638 on or near 
the site of the present Unitarian Church. 

Site of the First Episcopal Church, on Church Street, 
near the grain store of Amory Fisher. Built in 1761. 

Site of the First Court House, built in 1795, and occupied 
until the dedication of the new Court House, in 1827, on 
Court Street, fronting Meeting-House Common. 

Site of the First Schoolhouse, built in 1648, and standing 
near the site of the Unitarian Vestry. 

Site of the First yail, built in 1795, and standing near 
the junction of Court and Highland streets. 

Site of the Law Office of Horace Mann, standing at the 
junction of Court and Church streets, now the dwelling- 
house of Mrs. L. C. Weeks. Mr. Mann began the practice 
of law in Dedham in 1828, where he remained until his re- 
moval to Boston in 1835. He represented Dedham in the 
General Court during five of the seven years in which he 
resided here. 

1 Haven's Centennial Address, 1S36, p. 45. 



250Tn ANNIVERSARY. 1 95 

Site of the Law Office of Fisher Ames, built in 1794, on 
the corner of Court and High streets, near the Pitt's Head. 
The building was afterward remodelled and reconstructed 
as a dwelling-house. It was removed when the new Court 
House was built, and again when the Dedham Bank build- 
ing was erected. It was a perfect sample of the old time 
country lawyer's office. After the death of Fisher Ames 
it was occupied by his son, John Worthington Ames, and 
then by James Richardson ; and subsequently by Theron 
Metcalf, afterward Judge of the Supreme Court. The late 
Ex-Governor Clifford, Judge Seth Ames, and many other 
lawyers of eminence in this and other States there read 
law with Judge Metcalf. 



196 THE TOWN OF DEDHAM. 



FINAL ACTION OF THE TOWN. 

At a Meeting of the inhabitants of the town of Dedham 
held at Memorial Hall, April 4, 1887, — 

Under Article 30, it was " Voted to raise and appropriate 
the sum of $1090.29 to cover expenditures made under 
the direction of the Committee in celebrating the Two 
Hundred and Fiftieth Anniversary." 

Under Article 34, it was " Voted that a committee, 
consisting of John R. Bullard, Henry O. Hildreth, 
Julius H. Tuttle, Erastus Worthington, Winslow 
Warren, and Don Gleason Hill be appointed to take 
charge of the printing of the proceedings of the Two 
Hundred and Fiftieth Anniversary, with instructions to 
print an edition of one thousand copies to be sold at cost, 
and that the sum of $750.00 be raised and appropriated 
therefor." 

At a meeting of the Committee appointed under the 
foregoing vote of the town, held on Friday, June 3, 1887, 
Henry O. Hildreth and Winslow Warren were 
chosen a sub-committee to prepare and print a suitable 
volume of the Proceedings at the Two Hundred and 
Fiftieth Anniversary of the Incorporation of Dedham. 



APPENDIX. 



I. — ODE AND VERSES. 



Frederic J. Stimson. 

ORGAN. 



Music by Arthur W. Thayer. 




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25OTH ANNIVERSARY. 20$ 

II. 

ANNIVERSARY POEM. 

Among other contributions which the unexpected 
length of the programme prevented utilizing on the 
occasion, was the following poem, written, at the request 
of the Committee of Arrangements, by Charles A. Mackin- 
tosh, a member and Secretary of the Committee until a 
few weeks before the celebration, when sickness enforced 
his resignation and absence from the proceedings. 

Mother of towns ! Thy children bow 

In filial reverence here to-day. 
The years lie lightly on thy brow, 

Thy locks but show the trace of gray ; 
And never sweeter were than now 

The smiles that o'er thy features play. 

To us of later, busier days 

A thought old-fashioned seems thy dress ; 
Thy mien sedate, thy cautious ways, 

Thy standard of fastidiousness, 
Thy calm content if matters each 

Glide softly in the accustomed groove, 
Little accord with those who preach : 

" No matter where you move — but move ! " 

And yet, as when we turn our eyes 

From chromo-lithographic art 
To where, in fading lines, there lies 

Some work where truth alone had part ; 
Or when upon the wearied ear, 

Tortured with songs made to be sold, 
Deafened by cacophonic seer, 

Falls some grand harmony of old, — 



206 THE TOWN OF DEDHAM. 

We learn the lesson, needed sore 

In this our feverish modern time, — 
Leave not the foothold gained before 

Till surely, higher, may we climb ! 
So, Mother Town, thine honored age 

The more endears thee to each heart ; 
We would not blot a single page. 

We love thee better as thou art. 



I love not the historian's trade, 

In antiquarian dry-as-dust. 
Each spade need not be proved a spade, 

Some things we safely take on trust. 
The distant star, the sunset skies. 

The turbulent sea's sublime unrest. 
Have charms one may not analyze 

By any microscopic test. 



What triumph for historic truth 

To make the ennobling facts appear, — 
This sage was flighty in his youth ; 

That hero partial to his beer; 
This orator took snuff, and that 

Wofully shabby was in dress ; 
While yon, the great divine, waxed fat 

And fancied onions to excess ? 



We gaze upon the far-off height, 

Robed in its own ethereal blue ; 
How vastly more sublime the sight, 

If at the time we only knew 
The northeast half was owned by Shaw, 

The other moiety was Bense's, 
And Shaw was threatening Bense with law 

Because he would n't mend his fences ! 



25OTH ANNIVERSARY. 207 

A larger brush, a hand more bold, 

Should paint the picture of the past, 
That when the story once is told, 

Each tale, unperishing, may last. 
Perchance my sympathies may err. 

Yet must I rank as one of those 
Who study Cromwell's character, 

And not the wart upon his nose. 



Therefore, although some other hand 

Might many a blemish find, and flaw. 
From when thou craved'st the Indian's land 

And choused him under form of law, 
I see alone the purpose high. 

The courage stern, the steadfast aim, 
Which strengthening as the years rolled by 

Gave us a country and a name. 



I see the spirit that awoke 

A George's petty tyranny, 
Till time was ripe, then snapped the yoke 

And made the infant nation free ; 
That moved resistless as the flood. 

To keep that sacred flame alive, 
Unsparing of its dearest blood 

From Sixty-one to Sixty-five. 



Mother of Towns and Men ! We bow 
In filial reverence here to-day. 

May years lie lightly on thy brow, 
May health and peace be thine alway 

Be honored centuries hence as now, 
We proudly hope, we humbly pray. 



208 THE TOWN OF DEDHAM. 



III. — Page 12. 

CHAPTER XXX. 

COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

In the Year One Thousand Eight Hundred and Eighty-six. 

An Act to authorize the Town of DedJiam to raise money for the Celebra- 
tion of the Two Hundred and Fiftieth Anniversary of its Incorporation. 

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in 

General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, 

as follows : — 

Section i. The Town of Dedham is authorized to raise by 
taxation a sum of money not exceeding one tenth of one per 
centum of the assessed valuation of said town in the year one 
thousand eight hundred and eighty-five, for the purpose of cele- 
brating the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the incor- 
poration of said town, and for publishing the proceedings of 
such celebration, erecting tablets or monuments to mark places 
and objects of historic interest, and restoring and preserving 
any such existing monuments therein. 

Section 2. This Act shall take effect upon its passage. 

House of Representatives, Feb. 25, 1S86. 
Passed to be enacted. 

J. Q. A. Brackett, Speaker. 

In Senate, Feb. 25, 1SS6. 
A. E. PiLLSBURY, President. 



Passed to be enacted. 

February 26, 18S6. 



Approved. 

Geo. D. Robinson. 



25OTH ANNIVERSARY. 2O9 



IV. — Page z6. 

Dedham has been well styled a mother town. From her ample 
territory at various times have been formed the following named 
towns : — 

Medfield, incorporated- May 23, 165 1 ; Wrentham, incorporated 
October 15, 1673; Needham, incorporated November 5, 1711 ; 
Medway, incorporated October 24, 1713; Bellingham, incorpo- 
rated November 27,1719; Walpole, incorporated December 10, 
1724; Franklin, incorporated March 2, 1778; Dover, incorpo- 
rated July 7, 1784; Norfolk, incorporated February 23, 1870; 
Norwood, incorporated February 23, 1872 ; Wellesley, incorpo- 
rated April 6, 1881 ; Millis, incorporated February 24, 1885. 

Foxborough, incorporated June 10, 1778, and Hyde Park, in- 
corporated April 22, 1868, contain a portion of the original 
territory of Dedham. Portions of Dedham were annexed to 
Dorchester and West Roxbury, and subsequently included within 
the limits of Boston. A considerable portion of the present towns 
of Natick and Sherborn was included in the original grant to 
Dedham. A subsequent grant of land to Dedham in the 
Pocumtuck valley was the beginning of the present town of 
Deerfield. 

V. — Page 66. 

In the "Dedham Gazette" of March 26, 1864, appeared the 
following article written by INIr. Charles C. Greenwood, of Need- 
ham, then, as now, a reliable authority in matters of local 
history : — 

Mr. Editor, — The following interesting scrap of personal history 
is copied from a small slip of paper, yellow with age, which has been 
preserved in the family of a descendant of Mrs. Chickering for a cen- 
tury and a quarter. Although tlie author's name does not appear, 
there is no mistaking the peculiarly minute and elegant hand of Rev. 
Jonathan Townsend, the first minister of this town. It reads thus : — 

Needh.xm, July 17, 1737. 
This day died here Mrs. Lydia Chickering, in the Eighty-sixth year of her 
age. She was born at Dedham, in New England, on July 14, 1652, and 
about the year 167 1 went up from thence to Hadley, where for the space of 



2IO THE TOWN OF DEDHAM. 

about a year she waited upon Colonel Whalley and Colonel Goffe (two of 
King Charles ists Judges) who had fled thither from the men who had 
sought their life. She was the daughter of Capt. Daniel Fisher of Dedham, 
one of the Magistrates of this Colony under the Old Charter. Having lived 
a virtuous life, she died universally respected, and came to her grave in a 
full age, as a shock of corn cometh in in his season. 

VI. — Page 78. 

The following item is copied from page 10 of Dr. Ames's 
Ledger A : — 

Israel Everett to Dr. Natli'l Ames, Dr. 1775, April 19th. To 
extracting a Bullet from the Cubitus of Israel Everett, Jr., 
which he received at the Battle of Lexington, the first of the 
War with Great Britain. 3s 

To sundry visits and dressings of the wound. I25 



VII. — Page 182. 

The movement for the preservation of the Powder House in 
1859 originated with the members of The Club, — an association 
then existing in Dedham, and organized for social and literary 
purposes. At that time The Club was composed of the following 
members : Dr. Ebenezer P. Burgess, Alfred Hewins, Henry 
O. Hildreth, John Lathrop, Dr. Joseph P. Paine, Henry W. 
Richards, John D. Runkle, Frank H. Shorey, John C. Shorey, 
Carlos Slafter, Josephus G. Taft, Erastus Worthington. 

A committee consisting of Henry O. Hildreth, Henry W. 
Richards, and John C. Shorey was appointed to make the neces- 
sary repairs, which were promptly done at an expense to The 
Club of about thirty dollars. 

VIII. 

Of the men who were prominent in the celebration of the Two 
Hundredth Anniversary of tlie town's incorporation, almost all 
have passed away. 

Samuel F. Haven, the orator of the occasion, was bom in 
Dedham, May 7, 1806. He was admitted to Harvard College 



25OTH ANNIVERSARY. 211 

in the class of 1826, and subsequently took his first degree at 
Amherst in that year. He was admitted to the bar in Middlesex 
County, and began the practice of the law in Lowell. He was 
appointed Librarian of the Antiquarian Society at Worcester, 
Sept. 23, 1S37, and at once removed to that city, where he 
ever afterward resided. He received from Amherst College the 
degree of LL.D., and that of A.M. from Harvard College. He 
was a valued member of many learned societies. He died at 
Worcester on the 5th of September, 1881, at the age of seventy- 
five years, four months. Mr. Haven had long been regarded as 
one of the most eminent antiquarian and archaeological scholars 
in the country. 

Hon. Edward Everett, at that time Governor of the State, and 
the most eminent of the guests, was of Dedham ancestry, he being 
of the sixth generation in direct descent from Richard Evered, 
one of the original settlers, who died in 1682. Governor Everett's 
father, the Hon. Oliver Everett, was born in Dedham, but his dis- 
tinguished son was a native of Dorchester. Edward Everett was 
Governor from 1836 to 1840, member of both Houses of Congress, 
Minister to England, and President of Harvard College. He died 
in Boston, Jan. 15, 1865, at the age of seventy years. 

Hon. James Richardson, President of the day, prominent for 
many years in legal and political circles, died in Dedham, June 7, 
1858, aged eighty-seven. 

Hon. Theron Metcalf, one of the Vice-presidents, after 
a long and distinguished career as a lawyer and judge, died 
in Boston, Nov. 13, 1875, aged ninety-one years and twenty- 
eight days. 

Hon. William Ellis, Chairman of the Committee of Arrange- 
ments, was born in Dedham in 1780, and was for many years the 
leading land-surveyor in the county of Norfolk. He was much 
occupied in public affairs, having been a Selectman, Representa- 
tive eight years, and a member of the Senate for Norfolk County 
for three years. He was two years Assistant Justice of the Court 
of Sessions, and from 1828 to 1835 a member of the first Board 
of County Commissioners for Norfolk County. He died in 
Dedham, November 28, 1852, aged seventy-two years. 

General Nathaniel Guild, the Chief Marshal, was a native 



212 THE TOWN OF DEDHAM. 

of Dedham, and for many years prominent in town and mili- 
tary affairs. He died in Dedham, August 26, 1845, aged 
seventy years. 

Of the prominent actors in the events of that day, only five 
survive, namely : Ira Cleveland, Esq., one of the Committee of 
Arrangements, and for many years a leading and respected citizen, 
now in his eighty-sixth year ; and four of the Aids to the Chief 
Marshal, — Ira Russell, in his eighty-second year ; Benjamin 
BoYDEN, in his eighty-first year; John D. Colburn of West 
Roxbury, in his eighty-fourth year ; and Theodore Metcalf of 
Boston, now in his seventy-sixth year. All these gentlemen par- 
ticipated in the celebration as the invited guests of the town. 



IX. 



As frequent allusions have been made in preceding 
pages of this volume to Worthington's " History of 
Dedham," the following sketch of the life of the author 
is herewith given : — 

Erastus Worthington, the first of the name in Dedham, 
was born in Belchertown, Mass., Oct. 8, 1779. ^^ was gradu- 
ated at Williams College in the class of 1804. Among his 
classmates were Luther Bradish and Henry Dwight Sedgwick of 
New York, Judge Samuel Howe of Northampton, and Nathan 
Hale of Boston. After his graduation Mr. Worthington was 
employed for a time in teaching, and then began the study of 
law, which he completed in the office of John Heard, Esq., of 
Boston. He was first admitted as an attorney in Boston, but 
came to Dedham to reside in 1809. Here he began the practice 
of his profession, and was admitted as a Counsellor of the 
Supreme Judicial Court in 1813. He devoted himself exclu- 
sively to legal practice until 1825, when the Norfolk Mutual 
Fire Insurance Company was organized mainly by his efforts, 
and he became its first Secretary. From this time he gradually 
withdrew from practice, although as Justice of the Peace he was 
the magistrate of the town afterward during his life. In the 



25OTH ANNIVERSARY. 213 

spring of 1840, by reason of ill health, he was compelled to 
resign his oflfice as Secretary, and in the ' autumn of the same 
year he removed with his family to Dayton, Ohio. In the 
following spring, however, he returned to Dedham, where he 
continued to reside until his death, which occurred from chronic 
bronchitis, June 27, 1842. He left a widow and three sons, of 
whom Erastus VVorthington, now of Dedham, is the youngest. 

Mr. Worthington was actively interested in politics as a 
Republican during the War of 1812, and as a Democrat during 
the administrations of Jackson and Van Buren. He delivered 
an oration in Dedham, July 4, 1809, on "The Recent Measures 
of the American Government," which was printed. He was a 
member of the General Court from Dedham in 1814 and 1815, 
He was also interested in the temperance reform, and was iden- 
tified with the anti-slavery movement in its beginning. 

In 18 10, Mr. Worthington wrote and published anonymously 
an elaborate pamphlet, entitled " An Essay on the Establish- 
ment of a Chancery Jurisdiction in Massachusetts." This was 
a brief legal treatise, comprehending a general view of the 
whole subject ; and upon the excellent authority of the late 
Judge Metcalf, who was contemporary in Dedham with Mr. 
Worthington, it was the first essay published in the Common- 
wealth in favor of the establishment of an equity jurisdiction, 
which for a long time was viewed with disfavor by the legal pro- 
fession, and which was not fully adopted until i860. 

In 1827, Mr. Worthington wrote and published "The History 
of Dedham from the Beginning of its Settlement in 1635 ^^ 
May, 1827." This History was written at a period when but few 
town histories had been published, and besides some brief notes 
to historical sermons which related to church matters, nothing 
had been published concerning the history of Dedham. Mr. 
Worthington was the first carefully and intelligently to study the 
records of the town and of the churches and parishes in search 
of materials for history, and he gathered and preserved such tra- 
ditions as were well authenticated sixty years ago. Moreover, 
he endeavored to exhibit a faithful view of society in Dedham 
in a retrospect of one hundred and ninety years. His History 
is not merely a chronicle of events, but these are connected 



214 THE TOWN OF DEDHAM. 

and treated in the spirit and method of a true historian. The 
narrative is concise, comprehensive, and accurate, though not so 
exhaustive and minute as in town histories written in more re- 
cent times. Mr. Haven, in a note to his centennial address of 
1836, accords to Mr. Worthington the credit of first undertaking 
to develop the history of the town. 



University Press: John Wilson & Son, Cambridge. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 

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